'This is a great pleasure,' he said formally.
'But what brings you out here in the middle of the week?
Have you got a holiday?'
Cavanagh seemed a little dashed.
'I've taken a day off,' he said after a moment.
'May I come in?'
'By all means.'
The old man bustled round and cleared a heap of books from the only other chair in the room.
Then he offered his guest a cigarette.
'Won't you sit down?'
The other sat down diffidently.
'What do you think of the war?' he asked.
Howard said: 'I think it very serious.
I don't like the news at all.'
'Nor do I.
I hear you're going home?'
'Yes, I'm going back to England.
I feel that at a time like this my place is there.'
There was a short silence.
Then Cavanagh said:
'In Geneva we think that Switzerland will be invaded.'
Howard looked at him with interest.
'Do you, now!
Is that going to be the next thing?'
'I think so.
I think that it may happen very soon.'
There was a pause.
Then Howard said:
'If that happened, what would you do?'
The little sandy-haired man from Geneva got up and walked over to the window.
He stood for a moment looking out over the meadows and the pinewoods.
Then he turned back into the room.
'I should have to stay in Geneva,' he said.
'I've got my work to do.'
'Would that be very - wise?'
'No,' said Cavanagh frankly.
'But it's what I have made up my mind to do.'
He came back and sat down again.
'I've been talking it over with Felicity,' he said.
'I've got to stay there.
Even in German occupation there would still be work for us to do.
It's not going to be pleasant.
It's not going to be profitable.
But it's going to be worth doing.'
'Would the Germans allow the League to function at all?'
'We have positive assurances that they will.'
'What does your wife think about it?' asked Howard.
'She thinks that it's the proper thing to do.
She wants to come back to Geneva with me.'
'Oh The other turned to him.