After each tragedy I recognized the warning and repented; repented and begged; begged like a coward, begged like a dog; and not in the interest of those poor people who had been extinguished for my sake, but only in my own interest.

It seems selfish, when I look back on it now.
My repentances were very real, very earnest; and after each tragedy they happened every night for a long time.

But as a rule they could not stand the daylight.

They faded out and shredded away and disappeared in the glad splendor of the sun.

They were the creatures of fear and darkness, and they could not live out of their own place.