At any rate, I must
now approach the time at which I took control of myself, and of the
magic boat that had been built and equipped for me by others. Had I been
fully conscious when I started on my own voyage, it should have been
with a devout gratitude that my ship, at any rate, had not been rigged
in the eclipse, and that I set sail under so bright a sky and with so
prosperous a gale behind me.
CHAPTER IV
MY FATHER
I delay too long the picture of my father. Perhaps unconsciously I have
been trying to avoid describing him, for I know the difficulty of the
task and dread producing something unworthy. Important as were our home
and traditions, our family, our friends, and our mode of life, they are
as nothing in my making when compared to the influence of such a man as
he was.
I shall not attempt to describe my father's physical appearance, for
that has been done with sympathy, felicity, and power of presentation in
my brother's portrait here reproduced. I will say only that he was
slight of build and short of stature. He is standing in the little Great
Hall at Sutton, in his black overcoat and hat, ready for one of those
walks on the terrace which he took from his earliest childhood.
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