n suddenly put out in the summer sky
by the perfidy of a trusted providence.

"The Embassy," Mr Verloc began again, after a preliminary grimace which
bared his teeth wolfishly. "I wish I could get loose in there with a
cudgel for half-an-hour. I would keep on hitting till there wasn't a
single unbroken bone left amongst the whole lot. But never mind, I'll
teach them yet what it means trying to throw out a man like me to rot in
the streets. I've a tongue in my head. All the world shall know what
I've done for them. I am not afraid. I don't care. Everything'll come
out. Every damned thing. Let them look out!"

In these terms did Mr Verloc declare his thirst for revenge. It was a
very appropriate revenge. It was in harmony with the promptings of Mr
Verloc's genius. It had also the advantage of being within the range of
his powers and of adjusting itself easily to the practice of his life,
which had consisted precisely in betraying the secret and unlawful
proceedings of his fellow-men. Anarchists or diplomats were all one to
him. Mr Verloc was temperamentally no respecter of persons. His scorn
was equally distributed over the whole field of his operations. But as a
member of a revolutionary proletariat--which he undoubtedly was--he
nourished a rather inimical sentiment against social distinction.

"Nothing on earth can stop me now," he added, and paused, looking fixedly
at his wife, who was looking fixedly at a blank wall.

The silence in the kitchen was prolonged, and Mr Verloc felt
disappointed. He had expected his wife to say something. But Mrs
Verloc's lips, composed in their usual form, preserved a statuesque
immobility like the rest of her face. And Mr Verloc was disappointed.
Yet the occasion did not, he recognised, demand speech from her. She was
a woman of very few words. For reasons involved in the very foundation
of his psychology, Mr Verloc was inclined to put his trust in any woman
who had given herself to him. Therefore he trusted his wife. Their
accord was perfect, but it was not precise. It was a tacit accord,
congenial to Mrs Verloc's incuriosity and to Mr Verloc's habits of mind,
which were indolent and secret. They refrained from going to the bottom
of facts and motives.

This reserve, expressing, in a way, their profound confidence in each
other, introduced at the same time a certain element of vagueness into
their intimacy. No system of conjugal relations is perfect. Mr V