Fearing that all this was lost and that something else must have taken its place, he restrained himself and suffered.
His work and his longing for the woman did not hinder him from thinking of life.

He did not philosophize about this enigma, which was already stirring a feeling of alarm in his heart; he was not able to argue, but he began to listen attentively to everything that men said of life, and he tried to remember their words.

They did not make anything clear to him; nay, they increased his perplexity and prompted him to regard them suspiciously.

They were clever, cunning and sensible--he saw it; in dealings with them it was always necessary to be on one's guard; he knew already that in important matters none of them spoke as they thought.
And watching them carefully, he felt that their sighs and their complaints of life awakened in him distrust.

Silently he looked at everybody with suspicion, and a thin wrinkle masked his forehead.
One morning his godfather said to him on the Exchange: "Anany has arrived.