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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: alone could start him. He stole back from where he had checked
himself - merely to do so was suddenly like safety - and, making
blindly for the greater staircase, left gaping rooms and sounding
passages behind. Here was the top of the stairs, with a fine large
dim descent and three spacious landings to mark off. His instinct
was all for mildness, but his feet were harsh on the floors, and,
strangely, when he had in a couple of minutes become aware of this,
it counted somehow for help. He couldn't have spoken, the tone of
his voice would have scared him, and the common conceit or resource
of "whistling in the dark" (whether literally or figuratively) have
appeared basely vulgar; yet he liked none the less to hear himself
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