“If he knew great things were within his reach, he would not disdain the means to reach them,” said Miss Ironsyde.  “I do think if the boy felt his own possibilities more—­if we could waken ambition—­he would grow larger-minded.  Hate always runs counter to our interests in the long run, because it wastes our energy and, if people only knew it, revenge is really not sweet, but exceedingly bitter.”

“I suggest this,” said Ironsyde:  “that Uncle Ernest and Estelle visit the boy—­not in any spirit of weakness, or with any concessions, or attempts to change his mind; but simply to learn his mind.  Sabina was right there.  We’ll approach him as we should any other intelligent being, and invite his opinion, and see if it be reasonable, or unreasonable.  And if it is reasonable, then I ought to be able to serve him, if he’ll let me do so.”

“I shall certainly do what you wish,” agreed Ernest.  “Estelle and I will form a deputation to this difficult customer and endeavour to find out what his lordship really proposes and desires.  Then, if we can prove to him that he must look to his fellow creatures to advance his welfare; if we can succeed in showing him that not even the youngest of us can stand alone, perhaps we shall achieve something.”

“And if he won’t let me help, perhaps he’ll let you, or Estelle, or Aunt Jenny.  Agree if he makes any possible stipulation.  It doesn’t matter a button where he supposes help is coming from:  the thing is that he should not know it is really coming from me.”

“I hope we may succeed without craft of that sort, Raymond,” declared Mr. Churchouse; “but I shall not hesitate to employ the wisdom of the serpent—­if the olive branch of the dove fails to meet the situation.  I trust, however, more to Estelle than myself.  She is nearer Abel in point of time, and it is very difficult to bridge a great gulf of years.  We old men talk in another language than the young use, and the scenery that fills their eyes—­why, it has already vanished beneath our horizons.  Narrowing vision too often begets narrowing sympathies and we depress youth as much as youth puzzles us.”

“True, Ernest,” said Miss Ironsyde.  “Have you noticed how a natural instinct makes the young long to escape from the presence of age?  The young breathe more freely out of sight of grey heads.”

“And the grey heads survive their absence without difficulty,” confessed Mr. Churchouse.  “But we are a tonic to each other.  They help us to see, Jenny, and we must help them to feel.”

“Abel shall help us to see his point of view, and we’ll help him to feel who his best friends are,” promised Estelle.

Raymond had astonished Bridport and staggered Bridetown with a wondrous invention.  The automobile was born, and since it appealed very directly to him, he had acquired one of the first of the new vehicles at some cost, and not only did he engage a skilled mechanic to drive it, but himself devoted time and pains to mastering the machine.  He believed in it very stoutly, and held that in time to come it must bulk as a most important industrial factor.  Already he predicted motor traction on a large scale, while yet the invention was little more than a new toy for the wealthy.