VII
T
hat
then was my first step towards independence, but an independence in which I was still the protegée of my brother and so not the true self-sufficiency I had dreamed of. Yet it was good enough to start with; the road to Hell may be traversed by little steps as well as by great strides! Thereafter I saw much of my brother at The Railway and became liked I think by the company there as well as by Blue-eyed Annie; though never did Elijah really want me to go there, not truly in his heart. Though after one or two attempts to dissuade me he shrugged his broad shoulders and gave up the struggle, fearing that I might come to worse harm if he turned me away to follow my own unformed devices.
At home Tom was studiously polite now, and it was seldom we met for meals or even for conversat
