His father, too, noticed the change in his elder son.
Once as they were sitting together, above the chalk-pit, on one of Ern's afternoons off, after a long silence, he said,
"How goes it, Boy-lad?"
"What, dad?"
"The affair."
Ernie looked away, teasing the bent between his teeth.
"None too well, dad."
The old man laid a hand on his.
"Wade out into it!" he said. "Trust the stream! It'll carry you—if you'll let it."
Ernie's mother too, curiously sure in some of her intuitions, felt his trouble, was aware of his new-found courage, and came to him.