The first-time reader of this sentence would see no reason to pause and ponder its
import, but for one returning to the text and tracing its linguistic and thematic
linkages, it would hard to understand how Victor could speak in such bland terms about
circumstances his mother could not foresee but through which he has suffered inordinately.
Moreover, not only does he have strong personal reason to repent this "design," but
its fulfillment, as he bitterly knows, will result directly in the death of his father
(III:6:16).