What a dreary prospect! The past was vital, the present dead! Life in Surrey must be dull.

How could I forget or enjoy?
I put the curtains down, and told Temperance, who was wandering about, not to call me to dinner.

I determined, if possible, to surpass my dullness by indulgence.

But underneath it all I could not deny that there was a specter, whose aimless movements kept me from stagnating.

I determined to drag it up and face it.
"Come," I called, "and stand before me; we will reason together." It uncovered, and asked: "Do you feel remorse and repentance ?" "Neither!" "Why suffer then ?" "I do not know why." "You confess ignorance.