Once safe, he ran towards Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he were flying for his life.

But when he got to the end of the playground he could not help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at the scenes he was leaving for ever.

It was a chilly and overclouded night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole buildings standing out black in the night air.

The past lay behind him like a painting.

Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he spent in that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by without their own wealth of life and joy.