y stone, nerveless and hopeless, by whatever cause or causes
that state had been produced--there I sat with my head leaning upon my
hand, and so I continued a long, long time. At last I lifted my head
from my hand, and began to cast anxious, unquiet looks about the
dingle--the entire hollow was now enveloped in deep shade--I cast my eyes
up; there was a golden gleam on the tops of the trees which grew towards
the upper parts of the dingle; but lower down, all was gloom and
twilight--yet, when I first sat down on my stone, the sun was right above
the dingle, illuminating all its depths by the rays which it cast
perpendicularly down--so I must have sat a long, long time upon my stone.
And now, once more, I rested my head upon my hand, but almost instantly
lifted it again in a kind of fear, and began looking at the objects
before me--the forge, the tools, the branches of the trees, endeavouring
to follow their rows, till they were lost in the darkness of the dingle.
And now I found my right hand grasping convulsively three forefingers of
the left, first collectively, and then successively, wringing them till
the joints cracked; then I became quiet, but not for long.

Suddenly I started up, and could scarcely repress the shriek which was
rising to my lips. Was it possible? Yes, all too certain: the evil one
was upon me; the inscrutable horror which I had felt in my boyhood had
once more taken possession of me. I had thought that it had forsaken me;
that it would never visit me again; that I had outgrown it; that I might
almost bid defiance to it; and I had even begun to think of it without
horror, as we are in the habit of doing of horrors of which we conceive
we run no danger; and lo! when least thought of, it had seized me again.
Every moment I felt it gathering force, and making me more wholly its
own. What should I do?--resist, of course; and I did resist. I grasped,
I tore, and strove to fling it from me; but of what avail were my
efforts? I could only have got rid of it by getting rid of myself: it
was a part of myself, or rather it was all myself. I rushed amongst the
trees, and struck at them with my bare fists, and dashed my head against
them, but I felt no pain. How could I feel pain with that horror upon
me! and then I flung myself on the ground, gnawed the earth, and
swallowed it; and then I looked round: it was almost total darkness in
the dingle, and the darkness added to my horror. I could no longer s