His first evening's experience in the Parsonage garden had given the young man a serious shock; a disturbing influence had obtained possession of him, of which he could understand no more than that it appeared to have some connection with Cornelia.

It interfered, at unexpected moments, with his processes of thought; it distracted his schemes of argument; it wrote itself unintelligibly upon the page he was reading.

It even followed him in his rough tramps up the hills and through the woods, and sometimes shook the hand which held the pen during his compositions.
Bressant knew not how best to combat his novel difficulty.

Although called into existence by an extraneous circumstance, it seemed to have struck root in every faculty of his mind, and, what was more, into the inmost core of every faculty.

He was possessed, not by seven devils, but by one devil in seven different forms.