They exchange rapid glances as they have done thousands of times while growing up.

‘Come along!’ says Peter, and they walk on, more than ready to accompany him. ‘You can come a bit further if you like.’

Does he know how sorely they need to walk in his company among all these people? They are about to enter adulthood and are feeling so sensitive and strange. Yes, they realize, he does know it, and they surrender to it completely.

Peter walks along with one of them on either side. And it looks as if his purpose is simply to walk with them, for he does not go in anywhere.

The moment of acceptance. They walk along the corridors, through the narrow side passages where frightened, hunted people have bunched together and run hither and thither in their difficult search for bread. And now that they have been taken up by Peter, it seems to Frank and Freda that people are noticing them in a friendly fashion. It bewilders them to see it. And they are freed of their guilt, and go on walking and walking. It seems as if they have been walking for a very long time, as if Peter will never be tired.

What feelings are stirring in them? They are walking with Peter, and being with him builds up their confidence. They have been invited to come and walk around in the great house. Now and again Peter is given a secret greeting, and Frank and Freda are aware of it, and feel as if they too are included in a secret circle.

Peter says, ‘Look at people.’

They do so, freeing themselves of the embarrassment, and of the conviction that all eyes were branding them and piercing them. Acquaintances look at them as they look at other people; they have known they were not to blame.

They walk here with this pale, weary man, and he is their truth and their justice as far as it is possible for him to be, but they do not know this. They only know that they are grateful to him for coming to their room and inviting them to accompany him. He has opened up the way for them. That’s the way, he might well say, and point, for now they are beginning to believe in the road ahead. The person accompanying them is the kind who will protect them.

They walk, feeling as if they become more adult with every passage they pass through.

‘Freda,’ says Peter quietly.

Her thoughts are so far away that she starts at hearing her name spoken.

She looks up at him. He nods at her, and goes on walking, without pausing, and without further comment. But she feels that she is free from blame, and that she has the right to live in the house. And she feels that she is completely a woman. Just because her name was spoken in this quiet voice, calling her awake.

How can this happen? she thinks, aware of the strong power at her side.