it's not our business!" said his father.

He put his arms round his father but he felt choked, choked.

He tried to draw a breath, to cry out--and woke up.
He waked up, gasping for breath, his hair soaked with perspiration, and stood up in terror.
"Thank God, that was only a dream," he said, sitting down under a tree and drawing deep breaths.

"But what is it?
Is it some fever coming on?
Such a hideous dream!" He felt utterly broken: darkness and confusion were in his soul.

He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his head on his hands.
"Good God!" he cried, "can it be, can it be, that I shall really take an axe, that I shall strike her on the head, split her skull open...