David had followed the line of her thought; he showed neither surprise nor satisfaction. He said: 'There's the school at Lepeton. A year of that wouldn't hurt them.'

She looked helplessly at her husband. John said: 'There are all sorts of things . . . ' The conviction communicated from David had already faded; the sort of thing he was imagining could not possibly happen.

'After all, if things should get worse, we shall have plenty of warning. We could come up right away, if it looked grim.'

'Don't leave it too late,' David said.

Arm gave a little shiver, and shook herself. 'In a year's time, all this will seem strange.'

'Yes,' David said, 'it may be it will.