Absolute independence he believed to be his
only chance of very life itself.
Over and above this--if this were not enough--Ernest had a faith in his
own destiny such as most young men, I suppose, feel, but the grounds of
which were not apparent to any one but himself. Rightly or wrongly, in a
quiet way he believed he possessed a strength which, if he were only free
to use it in his own way, might do great things some day. He did not
know when, nor where, nor how his opportunity was to come, but he never
doubted that it would come in spite of all that had happened, and above
all else he cherished the hope that he might know how to seize it if it
came, for whatever it was it would be something that no one else could do
so well as he could. People said there were no dragons and giants for
adventurous men to fight with nowadays; it was beginning to dawn upon him
that there were just as many now as at any past time.
Monstrous as such a faith may seem in one who was qualifying himself for
a high mission by a term of imprisonment, he could no more help it than
he could help breathing; it was innate in him, and it was even more with
a view to this than for other reasons that he wished to sever the
connection between himself and his parents; for he knew that if ever the
day came in which it should appear that before him too there was a race
set in which it might be an honour to have run among the foremost, his
father and mother would be the first to let him and hinder him in running
it.
Pages:
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499