I brought him with me up to the Holy Mountain, but that was not the only
motive--it seemed to me too hard to part altogether from the child.
My God! the young of brutes are secure of their mother's faithful love,
and his never asked for him when she fled from my house with her seducer.
I thought he should at least not lose his father, and that if he grew up
far away from the world he would be spared all the sorrow that it had so
profusely heaped upon me, I would have brought him up fit for Heaven, and
yet through a life devoid of suffering. And now--and now? If he is
miserable it will be through me, and added to all my other troubles comes
this grief."

"You have sought out the way for him," interrupted Paulus, "and the rest
will be sure to come; he loves you and will certainly not leave you so
long as you are suffering."

"Certainly not?" asked the sick man sadly. "And what weapons has he to
fight through life with?"

"You gave him the Saviour for a guide; that is enough," said Paulus
soothingly. "There is no smooth road from earth to Heaven, and none can
win salvation for another."

Stephanus was silent for a long time, then he said: "It is not even
allowed to a father to earn the wretched experience of life for his son,
or to a teacher for his pupil. We may point out the goal, but the way
thither is by a different road for each of us."

"And we may thank God for that," cried Paulus. "For Hermas has been
started on the road which you and I had first to find for ourselves."