The more he had chattered, the more remote had Ruth seemed to him.

How could he, herding with such cattle, ever become worthy of her?
He was appalled at the problem confronting him, weighted down by the incubus of his working-class station.

Everything reached out to hold him down--his sister, his sister's house and family, Jim the apprentice, everybody he knew, every tie of life.

Existence did not taste good in his mouth.

Up to then he had accepted existence, as he had lived it with all about him, as a good thing.