expansion of
affection and admiration on Hugh's part. He realised, as he had never
done before, the richness and energy of his father's mind within
certain limits, his practical ability, his high-mindedness, his amazing
moral purity. Once freed from the subservient relation imposed upon
him by habit, Hugh saw in his father a man of real genius and
effectiveness. The effectiveness he had hitherto taken as a matter of
course; he had thought of his father as effective in the same way that
he had thought of him as severe, dignified, handsome--it had seemed a
part of himself; but he now began to compare his father with other men,
and to realise that he was not only an exceptional man, but a man with
a rare intensity of nature, whose whole life was lived on a plane and
in an atmosphere that was impossible to easy, tolerant, conventional
natures. He realised his father's capacity for leadership, his
extraordinary and unconscious influence over all with whom he came in
contact, the burning glow of his fervid temperament, his scorn and
detestation of all that was vile or mean. It did not at once become
easier for Hugh to speak freely of what was passing in his own mind;
indeed he realised that his father was one of those whose prejudices
were so strong, and whose personal magnetism was so great, that not
even his oldest and most intimate friends could afford to express
opposition to him in matters on which he felt deeply. But Hugh saw
that he must accept it as an unalterable condition of his father's
nature, and realising this, he felt that he could concede him an honour
and a homage, due to one of commanding moral greatness, which he had
never willingly conceded to his paternal authority. The result was a
great and growing happiness. Sometimes indeed Hugh made mistakes,
beguiled by the increasing freedom of their intercourse; he allowed
himself to discuss lightly matters on which he could hardly believe
that any one could feel passionately. But a real and deep friendship
sprang up between the two, and Hugh was at times simply astonished at
the confidence which his father reposed in him. There were still,
indeed, days when the tension was felt. But Hugh became aware that his
father made strong efforts to banish his own depression and melancholy
when he was with his son, that it might not cloud their intercourse.
Signs such as these came home to Hugh with intense pathos, and evoked
an affection which became one of the r