By the very fact of the greater fineness of his organization, this tyrannical woman held him chained.

His submission to her would have seemed abject, if it had not been based on a sentiment and grounded in a loyalty which compelled respect.

He had accepted this burden as the one great duty of his life; and, whatever became of him, whatever became of his life, the burden should be carried.

This helpless woman, who stood to him in the relation of mother, should be made happy.

From the moment of his father's death, he had assumed this obligation as a sacrament; and, if it lasted his life out, he would never dream of evading or lessening it.