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Richard was very worried about some children whom he could see on the road while he sat near the window with Mrs K. He said (looking very unhappy, as if he now realized how persecuted he felt) that he was all the time on his ‘guard’, even when he was with Mrs K., whom he obviously felt as a protective figure. He asked her whether she, too, had had such fears as a child. He had heard it said that all children do. He watched the electric fire while he turned it on and off. Then he picked up Mrs K.'s clock, wound it, opened it, and for a moment rubbed his face against it caressingly. … He spoke of the success of the British bombers on the previous night, also of the German fleet and of the wiping out of the battleships at Brest. He wondered how Hitler had managed to make Germany into a Nazi country; now one could not get rid of Hitler without attacking Germany.
Mrs K. interpreted his fear that if he wanted to destroy the bad Daddy and bad babies inside Mummy, he would have to attack Mummy herself and might injure her (Germany which had now to be attacked because of the bad Hitler). She also suggested that when he investigated her clock, it was really her inside, her genital, and the bad Mr K. (Hitler-father) inside her that he wanted to find out about. As to the electric fire which he kept turning on and off, Mrs K. referred back to her previous interpretation (Ninth Session) about his wish to destroy the bad father and babies inside Mummy; but then he became frightened that this might kill Mummy. When he caressed the clock, this stood for caressing Mrs K., partly because he was sorry for her being injured by the bad Mr K. and babies inside her—the bad Hitler inside Germany.
Richard went on playing with the fire, and then turned back to