Now the truth of that came home to me, and somehow it was overwhelming.
"Dad received this truth--and it was beyond me to realize what it meant to him.

He must have seen all his earlier hopes fulfilled, his pride vindicated, his shame forgotten, his love rewarded.

Yet he must have seen all that, as would a man leaning with one foot over a bottomless abyss.

He looked transfigured, yet conscious of terrible peril.

His great heart seemed to leap to meet this last opportunity, with all forgiveness, with all gratitude; but his will yielded with a final and irrevocable resolve.