In Chapter 7, when Hollingsworth implores Coverdale to be his friend and colleague in criminal reform, Coverdale expresses his feeling of claustrophobia by personifying suspicion:
Heaven forgive me! A horrible suspicion crept into my heart, and stung the very core of it as with the fangs of an adder. I wondered whether it were possible that Hollingsworth could have watched by my bedside, with all that devoted care, only for the ulterior purpose of making me a proselyte to his views!
Coverdale personifies his "horrible suspicion" by saying that it "crept" into his heart and "stung" it as if it were an adder (a venomous snake). He suspects that Hollingsworth cared for him when he was sick in order to gain his trust and later manipulate him into helping with his own project. In this passage, Coverdale uses fancy, circuitous language and emphasizes his own experience as if to blame himself for being suspicious. This shows his reluctance to believe that Hollingsworth would ever betray him.
This moment also foreshadows the discovery of Hollingsworth's true motives. The chapter ends abruptly after Coverdale's revelation, which highlights it as an important instance not only of personification, but also foreshadowing. The whole novel revolves around secrets and suspicions, which are brought to light later in the story. Here the narrator merely "wonders whether it is possible" that Hollingsworth is so manipulative, but in reality this "wondering" is a narrative device that turns the reader's mind to Hollingsworth's secret motive.
