Er sah, daß er, statt das zu tun, was er wollte, nämlich seine Frau vor einem falschen Schritt in den Augen der Welt zu warnen, sich wider seine Absicht über etwas aufregte, was nur ihr Gewissen betraf, und gleichsam gegen eine Mauer ankämpfte, die nur in seiner Einbildung bestand.
He felt that instead of doing what he had meant to do and –warning his wife that she was making a mistake in the eyes of the world, he was involuntarily getting excited about a matter which concerned her conscience, and was struggling against some barrier of his imagination.