‘And where do you get these figures from?’

‘I’m in touch with a group of organised pacifists.’

‘Are you?’ Enid and Vivian chorused. Both were alarmed at the prospect. Howard ought not to be getting involved with political groups.

‘They’re not troublemakers,’ he assured them, glancing at Vivian and then Enid. Sometimes there was a look between them. Something real and alert. It frightened Enid. Ava was the only one interested in the group as a source of information rather than a cause for alarm. ‘So do you know exactly how many fanatics there are in among that number?’

‘Fanatics?’

Enid was almost certain her son must have understood Ava’s meaning. Ava smiled, radiating charm and a refusal to be anything other than appealing.

‘How many of those five thousand decline to compromise with the state in any shape or form? How many refuse to roll bandages, refuse to cook for the officers because they see it as contributing to the war effort?’

‘Absolutists, you mean.’

Ava waved her hand dismissively. ‘Absolutists, fanatics. It’s semantics.’

‘Over a thousand.’

Ava’s enormous eyes widened a fraction. ‘An entire battalion.’

Howard nodded regretfully. He was probably grudgingly impressed with Ava’s knowledge of the war establishment, but it wasn’t a comfortable analogy. All the women were wondering whether another battalion might make a difference to the outcome of the war. Were they talking about a thousand more dead men in the mud, or might it bring about a swifter resolution? Howard sighed; his vitality seeped out on to the cloth and sat among the cake crumbs. ‘It was when I saw how stubborn and inflexible they were being that I lost hope.’

‘Lost respect, you mean,’ insisted Ava.

‘No. It’s complicated.’

‘Try me,’ Ava insisted wryly. It was obvious she could keep up with any intellectual debate that he or anyone else threw at her.

‘In many ways I do respect the absolutists more for sticking to what they believe in, but I lost hope that they had the answer. That level of intransigence is only ever going to lead to conflict. I’m a man who thinks compromise is the answer. Isn’t that clear? Locking horns does no good. The Kaiser should have sat down with Asquith, Briand and Goremykin. All the big leaders round a table, that would have been the only way to avoid the bloodshed, but it never happened. The mentality of the absolutist COs made me think it never could. Men seem determined to mistake compromise for disgrace.’ He paused to sip his tea. As he carefully placed the thin cup on the saucer he added, ‘I suppose that’s why I said I would come and labour.’

‘Oh, I thought it was me.’ Vivian spluttered her belief out among the quiet tinkle of silver spoons against china, the gentle clink of plates being placed on the table. She sounded like a child.

Howard turned to her, eyes alight. He grinned. ‘It was. That too. You came along at the perfect moment. I might have been shot.’