If anything had been needed to keep his purpose firm it would have been the continual smart of pain, which stung him perpetually to unbearable frenzy, and rendered him physically almost unfit to walk. He got out, however, from the trees to the road; and as his head grew quieter, and it became more possible to see, he could look down upon the gloom that lay in front of him, and two station-lamps shining like eyes through the night. He was trembling with pain, but he could not make any pause, he would go on quickly until it all was done. Oh, how would it have been possible for him to go back to his mother, the mother who despised him, who had never cared for him? She would be sorry now that she had not loved him like his sister. He was glad that he would vex her, that she would be grieved for him at last. All sorts of strange sounds were floating through his brain, but he had not time to attend to them, not time. If only no one appeared on the road to interrupt him, he felt that he would be driven to madness if there were any obstacle. No! the night was dark, there was no one on the road, the trees and the roofs of the village were confused into gloom; only, far to the left, beyond long miles of darkness, the lights of the city shone upon the hill. He would not go round by the pathway to the station, for fear lest he might still meet some passer-by, but climbed into the wide field, shadowy in the night-time, and ran across it with footsteps that were noiseless on the grass. By the station he climbed into the road again; the station-lights were bright on the lines and the canal, and he was almost afraid to cross the railway, for fear lest he should be seen and recognised. But in the station there was no visible human being; he crossed the lines quickly, and was not stopped or disturbed; and, going through the little white gate upon the path, he stood in front of the river, flowing onwards through the night. The sight was a shock, and brought his heart into his throat, but he had made up his mind, and he would not be frightened now.