The difficulties were obvious; when he had made the journey there was no sort of guarantee that he could ever get across the frontier.
The girl said: 'I also have been thinking, but in quite the opposite direction.'
She turned to her mother.
'Jean Henri Guinevec,' she said, and she ran the two Christian names together to pronounce them Jenri.
Madame said placidly: 'Jean Henri may have gone already, ma petite.'
Howard said: 'Who is he?'
The girl said: 'He is a fisherman, of Le Conquet.
In Finisterre.
He has a very good boat.
He is a great friend of my father, monsieur.'
They told him about this man.
For thirty years it had been the colonel's habit to go to Brittany each summer.
In that he had been unusual for a Frenchman.
The sparse, rocky country, the stone cottages, and the wild coast attracted him, and the strong sea winds of the Atlantic refreshed him.
Morgat, Le Conquet, Brest, Douarnenez, Audierne, Concarneau - these were his haunts, the places that he loved to visit in the summer.
He used to dress the part.
For going in the fishing-boats he had the local costume, faded rust and rose coloured sailcloth overalls and a large, floppy black Breton casque.
'He used to wear the sabots, too, when we were married first,' his wife said placidly.
'But then, when he got corns on his feet, he had to give them up.'
His wife and daughter had gone with him, every year.
They had stayed in some little pension and had gone for little, bored walks, while the colonel went out in the boats with the fishermen, or sat yarning with them in the cafe.
'It was not very gay,' the girl said.
'One year we went to Paris-Plage, but next year we went back to Brittany.'
She had come to know his fishermen friends through the years.
'Jenri would help us to help Monsieur Howard,' she said confidently.
'He has a fine big boat that could cross easily to England.'
Howard gave this serious attention.
He knew a little of the Breton fishermen; when he had practised as a solicitor in Exeter there had been occasional legal cases that involved them, cases of fishing inside the three-mile limit.
Sometimes, they came into Torbay for shelter in bad weather.
Apart from their fishing peccadilloes they were popular in Devon; big burly men with boats as big and burly as they were themselves; fine seamen, speaking a language very similar to Gaelic, that a Welshman could sometimes understand.
They discussed this for some time; it certainly seemed more hopeful than any attempt to get back through Spain.
'It's a long way to go,' he said a little ruefully.
It was; Brest is two hundred miles or so from Chartres.
'Perhaps I could go by train.'
He would be going away from Paris.
They discussed it in all aspects.
Obviously, it was impossible to find out how Guinevec was placed; the only thing to do would be to go there and find out.
'But if Jenri should have gone away,' the mother said, 'there are all the others.
One or other of them will help you, when they know that you are friendly with my husband.'
She spoke with simple faith.
The girl confirmed this:
'One or other of them will help.'
The old man said presently: 'It really is most kind of you to suggest this.
If you would give me a few addresses, then - I would go tomorrow, with the children.' He hesitated. 'It will be better to go soon,' he said.
'Later, the Germans may become more vigilant.'
'That we can do,' said madame.
Presently, as it was getting late, she got up and went out of the room.
After a few minutes the girl followed her; from the salon Howard could hear the mutter of their voices in the kitchen, talking in low tones.
He could not hear what they were saying, nor did he try.
He was deeply grateful for the help and encouragement that he had had from them.