Then as far as was possible, in the dim light in the kitchen, he looked over his overcoat, his trousers and his boots.

At the first glance there seemed to be nothing but stains on the boots.

He wetted the rag and rubbed the boots.
But he knew he was not looking thoroughly, that there might be something quite noticeable that he was overlooking.

He stood in the middle of the room, lost in thought.

Dark agonising ideas rose in his mind--the idea that he was mad and that at that moment he was incapable of reasoning, of protecting himself, that he ought perhaps to be doing something utterly different from what he was now doing.