"
By this time he was at the prison gate, and in another moment was at
liberty. After he had got a few steps out he turned his face to the
prison wall, leant against it for support, and wept as though his
heart would break.
Giving up father and mother for Christ's sake was not such an easy
matter after all. If a man has been possessed by devils for long
enough they will rend him as they leave him, however imperatively they
may have been cast out. Ernest did not stay long where he was, for
he feared each moment that his father and mother would come out. He
pulled himself together and turned into the labyrinth of small streets
which opened out in front of him.
He had crossed his Rubicon -not perhaps very heroically or
dramatically, but then it is only in dramas that people act
dramatically. At any rate, by hook or by crook, he had scrambled over,
and was out upon the other side. Already he thought of much which he
would gladly have said, and blamed his want of presence of mind;
but, after all, it mattered very little. Inclined though he was to
make very great allowances for his father and mother, he was indignant
at their having thrust themselves upon him without warning at a moment
when the excitement of leaving prison was already as much as he was
fit for.
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