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He breathed more freely. "It can't be that!"

By degrees he began to regain confidence, he kept urging himself

to have courage and be calm.

"Some foolishness, some trifling carelessness, and I may betray

myself! Hm... it's a pity there's no air here," he added, "it's

stifling.... It makes one's head dizzier than ever... and one's

mind too..."

He was conscious of a terrible inner turmoil. He was afraid of

losing his self-control; he tried to catch at something and fix

his mind on it, something quite irrelevant, but he could not

succeed in this at all. Yet the head clerk greatly interested

him, he kept hoping to see through him and guess something from

his face.