y perfect control of every fibre of her body. It was all
her own, because the bargain was at an end. She was clear sighted. She
had become cunning. She chose to answer him so readily for a purpose.
She did not wish that man to change his position on the sofa which was
very suitable to the circumstances. She succeeded. The man did not
stir. But after answering him she remained leaning negligently against
the mantelpiece in the attitude of a resting wayfarer. She was
unhurried. Her brow was smooth. The head and shoulders of Mr Verloc
were hidden from her by the high side of the sofa. She kept her eyes
fixed on his feet.

She remained thus mysteriously still and suddenly collected till Mr
Verloc was heard with an accent of marital authority, and moving slightly
to make room for her to sit on the edge of the sofa.

"Come here," he said in a peculiar tone, which might have been the tone
of brutality, but, was intimately known to Mrs Verloc as the note of
wooing.

She started forward at once, as if she were still a loyal woman bound to
that man by an unbroken contract. Her right hand skimmed slightly the
end of the table, and when she had passed on towards the sofa the carving
knife had vanished without the slightest sound from the side of the dish.
Mr Verloc heard the creaky plank in the floor, and was content. He
waited. Mrs Verloc was coming. As if the homeless soul of Stevie had
flown for shelter straight to the breast of his sister, guardian and
protector, the resemblance of her face with that of her brother grew at
every step, even to the droop of the lower lip, even to the slight
divergence of the eyes. But Mr Verloc did not see that. He was lying on
his back and staring upwards. He saw partly on the ceiling and partly on
the wall the moving shadow of an arm with a clenched hand holding a
carving knife. It flickered up and down. It's movements were leisurely.
They were leisurely enough for Mr Verloc to recognise the limb and the
weapon.

They were leisurely enough for him to take in the full meaning of the
portent, and to taste the flavour of death rising in his gorge. His wife
had gone raving mad--murdering mad. They were leisurely enough for the
first paralysing effect of this discovery to pass away before a resolute
determination to come out victorious from the ghastly struggle with that
armed lunatic. They were leisurely enough for Mr Verloc to elaborate a
plan of defence involving a dash