On Tenterhooks /ˈtɛntərˌhʊk/ [ten-ter-hook]

“Damn it all,” he whispered aloud, wetting his hands in the damp and running them through his hair. “Next year I work!” Yet he knew that where now the spirit of spires and towers made him dreamily acquiescent, it would then overawe him. Where now he realized only his own inconsequence, effort would make him aware of his own incompetence and insufficiency.”