"Of this malice he was
beyond all other human beings the object. He was mocked with the shadow
of power; and when he lifted his hand to smite, it was struck with
sudden palsy. [In the bitterness of his anguish, he forgot his recent
triumph over Hawkins, or perhaps he regarded it less as a triumph, than
an overthrow, because it had failed of coming up to the extent of his
malice.] To what purpose had Heaven given him a feeling of injury, and
an instinct to resent, while he could in no case make his resentment
felt! It was only necessary for him to be the enemy of any person, to
insure that person's being safe against the reach of misfortune. What
insults, the most shocking and repeated, had he received from this
paltry girl! And by whom was she now torn from his indignation? By that
devil that haunted him at every moment, that crossed him at every step,
that fixed at pleasure his arrows in his heart, and made mows and
mockery at his insufferable tortures."
There was one other reflection that increased his anguish, and made him
careless and desperate as to his future conduct.
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