He felt himself dependent on too many subordinates and too many masters.

The near presence of that strange emotional phenomenon called public opinion weighed upon his spirits, and alarmed him by its irrational nature.

No doubt that from ignorance he exaggerated to himself its power for good and evil--especially for evil; and the rough east winds of the English spring (which agreed with his wife) augmented his general mistrust of men's motives and of the efficiency of their organisation.

The futility of office work especially appalled him on those days so trying to his sensitive liver.
He got up, unfolding himself to his full height, and with a heaviness of step remarkable in so slender a man, moved across the room to the window.
The panes streamed with rain, and the short street he looked down into lay wet and empty, as if swept clear suddenly by a great flood.

It was a very trying day, choked in raw fog to begin with, and now drowned in cold rain.