Will takes Polly in

Will takes Polly in when he finds her huddled on the steps outside Rachel Elliot’s block and offers her a warm bed at his flat. The encounter turns a private errand—returning a photograph to Rachel—into an act of immediate care. Will’s shelter gives Polly a brief refuge and, later, a ticket home; it also exposes his relationship with Rachel to Polly, whose discovery helps precipitate Robbie Dexter’s rejection of Rachel.

The Errand and the Encounter

On a cold night in late February, Will leaves his basement flat and walks toward the more salubrious part of Chelsea where Rachel lives. He has decided to put the photograph through her letterbox himself rather than arrange a meeting. He tells himself that getting it out of his own rooms will help him put its image out of his mind, and that Anita Cavanagh has already extinguished any hope he might have entertained. His deliberate effort to avoid sentiment makes the errand seem settled; he does not pause at Rachel’s building, but takes the steps two at a time and slips the photograph through the brass flap.

Only after delivering it does Will notice Polly crouched on the bottom step, knees drawn to her chest. The contrast is stark: the handsome entrance offers shelter, but Polly has not even taken cover in its doorway. Her anorak and mud-stained boots mark her exposure to the street, while the stiff tuft of young hair emerging from her hood tells Will that the figure is a young woman. He approaches with the change in his pocket and offers her about six pounds. The smallness of the sum does not resolve her situation, and the scene turns on Will recognizing that money alone is not enough.

Offering Shelter

Polly is waiting for someone she expects to meet her on a weekend. Will gently points out that it is Wednesday. She insists that the person will come, but her certainty is faltering: she has already spent five days on her own, and the cold has crowded out her ability to think clearly. She says he will come to see her, but Will does not promise that the expected visitor will arrive. Instead, he proposes a warm bed for the night.

Polly immediately suspects that he means a bed with him. Will corrects the misunderstanding: she would have a bed of her own, and he has a shower she can use. He points to his watch as well as the day of the week, arguing that it is too late for her expected visitor to come that night. His offer is specific and practical: she can have a hot bath, sleep, use his phone to tell someone where she is, and eat breakfast in the morning. Rather than asking her to trust a vague assurance, he gives her concrete terms and a means of contacting someone.

Even so, Polly watches him warily. Will takes his hands out of his pockets and raises them in a show of surrender, then identifies himself through his friendship with Rachel, whom he knows would hate to see someone freezing on her doorstep. Polly mutters that Rachel deserves it, but gets up and follows him. She keeps her knapsack clutched protectively to her stomach and trails half a pace behind him, a guarded response that does not erase her willingness to accept shelter.

Temporary Refuge and Lasting Consequences

The later account confirms that the invitation is not a one-night gesture only: Will lets Polly stay for a couple of nights while she sorts herself out, and pays for her ticket home. His assistance gives her a route out of the immediate crisis, though it does not turn their brief encounter into an uncomplicated friendship. Will questions her about Robbie, and makes no secret of the fact that he and Rachel have been seeing each other. Polly is therefore both the recipient of his kindness and a witness to a relationship that Rachel has not yet explained to Robbie.

At Will’s flat, Polly finds a framed picture he has taken of Rachel. That visible evidence reinforces what Will has already told her. When Robbie later recounts the episode to Rachel, he stresses that Polly had been outside his flat hoping to talk things through with him while he was away. He acknowledges Will’s decency in taking Polly in and paying for her journey, but also says that Will questioned her about their relationship and that Polly saw the picture. In Robbie’s account, the encounter confirms that Will and Rachel had been seeing each other. He refuses Rachel’s attempt to explain and tells her not to contact him again, declaring that he will not be duped a third time.

Significance in the Plot

The episode binds two very different forms of exposure. At the doorway, Will responds to Polly’s visible vulnerability with practical help, despite her suspicion and hostility toward Rachel. Inside his flat, however, his care also makes his private attachment legible: his questions about Robbie and the framed portrait disclose more than a neutral offer of shelter would have done. The same visit that gives Polly a bed and a ticket home supplies Robbie with evidence that intensifies his distrust of Rachel.

Will does not set out to cause the break between Rachel and Robbie, and the scene presents his conduct toward Polly as decent. Its consequence arises from the overlap between compassion and entanglement: Polly needs help, Will provides it, and the circumstances bring Rachel’s portrait and Will’s relationship into view. The episode thus makes an act of kindness consequential without making its kindness false. Polly is no longer alone on a cold step, but the disclosure carried out of Will’s flat helps close off Rachel’s relationship with Robbie.