He freely
pointed out the faults which had shown themselves in my boyhood, and
told me of the anxiety they had at one time caused him, and in this way
he went back to the time when I was taken into his family, and to the
causes of that. "I loved your mother very dearly," said he; "indeed, she
was my favourite out of all my brothers and sisters. In you I seemed to
see my sister once more, and for her love I took charge of you and
bestowed on you that affection which hitherto had been hers alone." And
dear as my own mother had become to me already through the many kind
things I had heard said of her, so that I had even formed a distinct
conception of what she was like, and seemed actually to remember her,
she became even dearer to me after these reminiscences of my uncle than
before, for did I not owe to her this noble and high-minded
second-father? My conversation with my uncle first made clear to me what
in later life I have found repeatedly confirmed--that the sources,
springs or motives of one's present actions often lie far away beyond
the present time, outside the present circumstances, and altogether
disconnected with the persons with whom one is concerned at the moment
then passing.
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