It was how he would have preferred to think of his son, for those earliest years were the most comfortable times for his father as a father. He had read lovingly to Louis when he was small, taken him on outings, showered him with attention. It was when Louis started to form his own opinions that his father had found him impossible to understand. Poor man. What a hopeless cause Thomas Stevenson had faced, trying to shape his odd and puzzling offspring.
