He had cut himself adrift from that home many years ago.

Better for him then.

Better for them now.
All this was gone, never to come back again; and suddenly he shivered, seeing himself alone in the presence of unknown and terrible dangers.
For the first time in his life he felt afraid of the future, because he had lost his faith, the faith in his own success.

And he had destroyed it foolishly with his own hands!.