And oh! my darling, what a beast I am to think of nothing but myself.

I am ashamed.

What of your mother, Michael ?" She turned on the light as they walked back across the studio, and Michael saw that her eyes, which were a little dazzled by the change from the dark into the light, were dim with unshed tears, and her hands clung to him as never before had they clung.

She needed him now with that imperative need which in trouble can only turn to love for comfort.
She wanted that only; the fact of him with her, in this land in which she had suddenly become an alien, an enemy, though all her friends except Hermann were here.

And instantaneously, as a baby at the breast, she found that all his strength and serenity were hers.
They sat down on the sofa by the piano, side by side, with hands intertwined before Michael answered.