An intolerable sense of fatigue weighed him down, a dull, heavy feeling, under the influence of which he forgot what he was waiting for at that particular street corner.

He kept stumbling on the pavement and starting into wakefulness with the icy shudder of a man who does not know where he is.

Nothing seemed to justify the painful anxiety he was inflicting on himself.

Since those people were asleep--well then, let them sleep! What good could it do mixing in their affairs?
It was very dark; no one would ever know anything about this night's doings.

And with that every sentiment within him, down to curiosity itself, took flight before the longing to have done with it all and to find relief somewhere.