On the right bank the flat plain of Normandy stretches to the sky-line, pink-and-white in spring with miles of apple-orchards.

The white clouds chase across its fair blue sky, driven by the winds from the sea, and tall poplars rise in their uniform rows along the river as if to guard a Paradise.
Caudebec can be reached from Le Havre in a few hours, and although cars for hire and petrol were not abundant in France at the time, one could find a chauffeur to make the journey if one was prepared to pay.

Given fine weather, it was an ideal place for a day off in the spring.

And Peter knew it.
In the Grand Magasin Julie had talked of a day off, and a party of four had been mooted, but when he had leisure to think of it, Peter found himself averse to four, and particularly if one of the four were to be Donovan.

He admitted it freely to himself.