Avis was awed and Peter angry.
"I hate father—I hate him!" he cried. "He's a bad man, and this isn't the first time he's made you miserable."
"John Henry will protect you, mother," said Avis. "And I'll hate father too, if he's cruel to you. And so will grandmother Huxam."
Auna put her arms round her mother's neck.
"Forgive him," she said. "You always make it up with us when we are naughty. Perhaps you was naughty, or said something he didn't understand."
"It's him says things we don't understand," declared Peter, "and mother's never naughty, and you ought to be ashamed to say it, Auna."
"We're often naughty without knowing it, Peter," explained Auna.
"Well, and if we are, how can we know we're naughty when nobody tells us?" asked Avis. "Father won't speak to mother, and how can you make it up if a person won't speak to you?"
"You can speak to them," said Auna.
Her mother was in the broken-spirited state when an adult will talk with children as equals.