That is, it refuses to be disturbed by life's experiences, because among
those experiences there is a place for the enlarged horizon, the clearer
vision. But I am not arguing about this matter; I rather wish to make
a confession and enlist your aid. Frankly, the boy's words gave me an
uneasy sense of failure in my duty to this young man; or, perhaps I
should say, my privilege. And really, it is no wonder! Here is this
little chap actually carrying every day a load of intense concern for
our friend, as to whether, as he puts it himself, 'he has come back.'
And, after all, Jack, I wonder if this should not have been more upon
our minds? The young man, I take it, since his mother's death has little
in his home life to inspire him with religious faith and feeling. If she
had been alive, one would not feel the same responsibility; she was a
singularly saintly woman."
"You are quite right, Sir," said Jack quickly, "and I suspect you rather
mean that I am the one that should feel condemned."
"Not at all! Not at all, Jack! I am thinking, as every man must, of my
own responsibility, though, doubtless, you have yours as well. Of course
I know quite well you have stuck by him splendidly in his fight for a
clean and self-controlled life, but one wonders whether there is not
something more.
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