“If father were here, he wouldn't be frightened.”
She shifted her position so that she could glance proudly back at him. “Father was never frightened.”
For the first time the little girl spoke. “If father were here, they wouldn't dare to come to London. I expect they knew...”
“Yes, Joan,” her mother interrupted quickly, “I expect they knew.”
“And when I'm a man they won't dare to come to London, either,” said Robbie. “How many of them did father...?”
But at that moment, before he could finish his question, his mother pressed her finger against his lips warningly. Above the roar of what was going on in the clouds, she had heard another and more alarming sound; the front-door closed quietly, a match struck and then the slow deliberate tread of someone groping up the stairs.