He felt that he could not turn aside from himself the hatred of men, because that hatred did not come from his being bad (in that case he could have tried to be better), but from his being shamefully and repulsively unhappy.

He knew that for this, for the very fact that his heart was torn with grief, they would be merciless to him.

He felt that men would crush him as dogs strangle a torn dog yelping with pain.

He knew that his sole means of security against people was to hide his wounds from them, and instinctively he tried to do this for two days, but now he felt incapable of keeping up the unequal struggle.

His despair was even intensified by the consciousness that he was utterly alone in his sorrow.