Mrs.Bennington had made an idol of the boy, but at the same time she had made a man of him.

From the time he could talk till he had entered man's estate, she had been constant at his side, now with wisdom and learning, now with laughter and wit, always and always with boundless and brooding love.
The first lesson had been on the horror of cruelty; the second, on the power of truth; the third, on the good that comes from firmness.

It is very easy to make an idol and a fool of a boy; but Mrs.Bennington always had the future in mind.

It was hard, it was bitter, that another should step in and claim the perfected man.

She had been lulled into the belief that now she would have him all her own till the end of her days.