Why may not this event have already taken place?
Why should I refuse to see him?
This idea was present, as it were, for a moment.

I suddenly recoiled from it, confounded at that frenzy which could give even momentary harbour to such a scheme; yet presently it returned.

At length I even conceived it to deserve deliberation.

I questioned whether it was not proper to admit, at a lonely spot, in a sacred hour, this man of tremendous and inscrutable attributes, this performer of horrid deeds, and whose presence was predicted to call down unheard-of and unutterable horrors.
What was it that swayed me?
I felt myself divested of the power to will contrary to the motives that determined me to seek his presence.

My mind seemed to be split into separate parts, and these parts to have entered into furious and implacable contention.