Sentence:  No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or.... And at last I began to realize in my harassed <WSD>soul</WSD> that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality. Often believed to live on after the person's death.