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This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the

contrary; but for some time past he had been in an overstrained

irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so

completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows

that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at

all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position

had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending

to matters of practical importance; he had lost all desire to do

so. Nothing that any landlady could do had a real terror for him.

But to be stopped on the stairs, to be forced to listen to her

trivial, irrelevant gossip, to pestering demands for payment,

threats and complaints, and to rack his brains for excuses, to

prevaricate, to lie--no, rather than that, he would creep down

the stairs like a cat and slip out unseen.

This evening, however, on coming out into the street, he became

acutely aware of his fears.