The evidence afforded me was slight; yet it exercised an absolute sway over my belief.
It was well that this suspicion had not been sooner excited.

Now civility did not require my stay in the apartment, and nothing but flight could conceal the state of my mind.

I hastened, therefore, to a distance, and shrouded myself in the friendly secrecy of my own chamber.
The constitution of my mind is doubtless singular and perverse; yet that opinion, perhaps, is the fruit of my ignorance.

It may by no means be uncommon for men to _fashion_ their conclusions in opposition to evidence and _probability_, and so as to feed their malice and subvert their happiness.

Thus it was, in an eminent degree, in my case.