Imagination. There are plenty of pressing reasons for getting away as quickly as possible.

Yes there are, answers Peter, white and still.

But Stig is still anxious. He remains in his chair, letting valuable time run away.

Yes! he thinks, as if seeing something that made him exclaim in amazement, as if an enormous mural displaying everything in the house had revealed itself. He is going to leave all this.

There stands the house, locked in this harsh, hidden struggle that is wearing out its people. They are damming up the seething darkness; they are calling senselessly for help under interrogation; they exist in an unending drudgery of petty matters that must be attended to. Each one pulls his weight and runs the risks – all those who feel they must contribute something towards the collapse of the centre. The pointer is trembling on the wall but there is a long way to go yet. And he seems to see the thousands milling about within the stockade, and the ones who take three paces forwards and three back, and three paces forwards and three back….

Yes!…

Now he is to leave it all.

And then he sees a deep chamber into which are cast those who have been extinguished by force, who have been silenced for ever. Would you prefer to be there perhaps? You may soon find yourself there, if you hesitate too long here in your room.

He snatches up his case.

But then it is there again. He sits down once more. There is so much more to it.

What’s to be gained by it, he asks himself, if I were to disregard the usual rules and stay here when I’ve been warned that I ought to leave?

Nothing at all, comes the reply.

He finds himself in a sudden and unexpected dilemma. He is one with this house creaking in the storm. It will not be any easier for those who are left behind if he goes. Every time anyone leaves the feeling of oppression is all the stronger for those who remain behind. More burdens to carry. Peter and John say nothing, but they feel a muffled little thud in their heads. But nothing can be done about it. Stig has been brought to the attention of the centre and must leave. He must be saved for the sake of the house. To stay here now would be to risk his life more than he has any right to do.

Yes, that’s true.

Plenty of people leave even when they are not threatened, merely to have an easier life. That temptation has never occurred to Stig. Those who have a task to do here must stay here; those who are threatened must leave. It has been decided so.

He has his hand on his briefcase, yet he remains seated. It’s such a strange feeling to be leaving. It’s almost impossible for him to do it. None of these obvious reasons are the slightest help. He feels he would rather remain in the house, because the house is his house and he has always lived in it. It won’t be the same to come back to when the storm is over. Then it will have been better to have been here the whole time. Then I shall wish I were Peter or Henry or John.