The medicine bottle

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Edmund carried the physician’s bottle upright inside his coat. Although the afternoon was warm, he kept the garment fastened tightly and pressed one elbow against his ribs. Carts rattled past him and children chased a hoop across the road, but he scarcely noticed them. He walked as though every paving stone had been laid to betray him. Only when he reached his own gate did he loosen his grip.

Identify the phrase which suggests that Edmund sees the journey as dangerous.