They spent the next day in the garden, as the day before.
The children were becoming bored and restless with the inactivity; Nicole devoted a good deal of her time to them, while Howard slept in his arm-chair beneath the tree.
The day passed slowly.
Dinner was served to them at six; after the meal the table was cleared by the same waiter.
They turned to put down beds for the children.
The Gefreiter stopped them; with some difficulty he made them understand that they were going away.
Howard asked where they were going to.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
'Nach Paris?' he said doubtfully.
Evidently he did not know.
Half an hour later they were taken out and put into a covered van.
Two German soldiers got in with them, and they moved off.
The old man tried to ask the soldiers where they were being taken to, but the men were uncommunicative.
Presently, from their conversation, Howard gathered that the soldiers were themselves going on leave to Paris; it seemed that while proceeding on leave they were to act as a guard for the prisoners.
That looked as if the Paris rumour was correct.
He discussed all this with Nicole in a low tone as the van swayed and rolled inland from the coast through the leafy lanes in the warm evening.
Presently they came to the outskirts of a town.
Nicole peered out.
'Brest,' she said presently.
'I know this street.'
One of the Germans nodded. 'Brest,' he said shortly.
They were taken to the railway station; here they got out of the van.
One of the soldiers stood guard over them while the other went to see the RTO; the French passengers looked at them curiously.
They were passed through the barrier and put into a third-class carriage with their guards, in a train which seemed to be going through to Paris.
Ronnie said: 'Is this the train we're going to sleep in, Mr Howard?'
He smiled patiently.
'This isn't the one I meant, but we may have to sleep in this one,' he said.
'Shall we have a little bed, like you told us about?'
'I don't think so.
We'll see.'
Rose said:
'I do feel thirsty.
May I have an orange?'
There were oranges for sale on the platform.
Howard had no money.
He explained the requirements to one of the German soldiers, who got out of the carriage and bought oranges for all of them.
Presently they were all sucking oranges, the children vying with the German soldiers in the production of noise.
At eight o'clock the train started.
It went slowly, stopping at every little local halt on the line.
At eight-twenty it drew up at a little place called Lanissant, which consisted of two cottages and a farm.
Suddenly Nicole, looking out of the window, turned to Howard.
'Look!' she said.
'Here is Major Diessen.'
The Gestapo officer, smart and upright in his black uniform and black field boots, came to the door of their carriage and opened it.
The German sentries got up quickly and stood to attention.
He spoke to them incisively in German.
Then he turned to Howard.
'You must get out,' he said.
'You are not going on in this train.'
Nicole and Howard got the children out of the carriage on to the platform.