Pagina 175 de 1294

He would of course have to go by and wait till she went out

again. But supposing she were in the meantime to miss the axe,

look for it, make an outcry--that would mean suspicion or at

least grounds for suspicion.

But those were all trifles which he had not even begun to

consider, and indeed he had no time. He was thinking of the chief

point, and put off trifling details, until he could believe in it

all. But that seemed utterly unattainable. So it seemed to

himself at least. He could not imagine, for instance, that he

would sometime leave off thinking, get up and simply go there....

Even his late experiment (i.e. his visit with the object of a

final survey of the place) was simply an attempt at an

experiment, far from being the real thing, as though one should

say "come, let us go and try it--why dream about it!"--and at

once he had broken down and had run away cursing, in a frenzy

with himself. Meanwhile it would seem, as regards the moral

question, that his analysis was complete; his casuistry had

become keen as a razor, and he could not find rational objections

in himself.