Главнее всего ему было то, что он искал и не находил той прежней нежности к сыну, которую он надеялся возбудить в себе, приласкав мальчика и посадив его к себе на колени.
What meant still more to him was that he sought and did not find in himself the former tenderness for his son which he had hoped to reawaken by caressing the boy and taking him on his knee.