What brings him his first peace in twenty years? Why?

Equality finds peace in being alone, he begins to sneak away to the tunnel instead of watching the plays at the City Theatre. With stolen objects and other local materials, he conducts experiments at night, and, with the help of stolen manuscripts, he learns many new things and feels no regret for his curiosity and his transgressions of the law.

"And yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to ourselves that we

are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in

our heart. And it seems to us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no

eyes save those of the sun. And in our heart²strange are the ways of evil!²in

our heart there is the first peace we have known in twenty years."