Everything, save selfishness, has its recompense.

I shall be content if you prosper." He fetched a breath and continued: "You had in your infancy a great loss." Father and son coloured simultaneously.

"To make that good to you I chose to isolate myself from the world, and devote myself entirely to your welfare; and I think it is not vanity that tells me now that the son I have reared is one of the most hopeful of God's creatures.

But for that very reason you are open to be tempted the most, and to sink the deepest.

It was the first of the angels who made the road to hell." He paused again.