eless 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 the three fore-fingers 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 stay
th