I am
free to leave the prison if I wish to do so. You cannot compel me to
remain here longer. Please take me to the gates."

Theobald stepped forward. "Ernest, you must not, shall not, leave us in
this way."

"Do not speak to me," said Ernest, his eyes flashing with a fire that was
unwonted in them. Another warder then came up and took Theobald aside,
while the first conducted Ernest to the gates.

"Tell them," said Ernest, "from me that they must think of me as one
dead, for I am dead to them. Say that my greatest pain is the thought of
the disgrace I have inflicted upon them, and that above all things else I
will study to avoid paining them hereafter; but say also that if they
write to me I will return their letters unopened, and that if they come
and see me I will protect myself in whatever way I can."

By this time he was at the prison gate, and in another moment was at
liberty. After he had got a few steps out he turned his face to the
prison wall, leant against it for support, and wept as though his heart
would break.

Giving up father and mother for Christ's sake was not such an easy matter
after all. If a man has been possessed by devils for long enough they
will rend him as they leave him, however imperatively they may have been
cast out. Ernest did not stay long where he was, for he feared each
moment that his father and mother would come out. He pulled himself
together and turned into the labyrinth of small streets which opened out
in front of him.

He had crossed his Rubicon--not perhaps very heroically or dramatically,
but then it is only in dramas that people act dramatically. At any rate,
by hook or by crook, he had scrambled over, and was out upon the other
side. Already he thought of much which he would gladly have said, and
blamed his want of presence of mind; but, after all, it mattered very
little. Inclined though he was to make very great allowances for his
father and mother, he was indignant at their having thrust themselves
upon him without warning at a moment when the excitement of leaving
prison was already as much as he was fit for. It was a mean advantage to
have taken over him, but he was glad they had taken it, for it made him
realise more fully than ever that his one chance lay in separating
himself completely from them.

The morning was grey, and the first signs of winter fog were beginning to
show themselves, for it was now the 30th of September. Ernest wore the
clo