Quotation from: The Secret Agent

Written by: Joseph Conrad

He began to undress. Mrs Verloc kept very still, perfectly still, with
her eyes fixed in a dreamy, quiet stare. And her heart for the fraction
of a second seemed to stand still too. That night she was "not quite
herself," as the saying is, and it was borne upon her with some force
that a simple sentence may hold several diverse meanings--mostly
disagreeable. How was it just as well? And why? But she did not allow
herself to fall into the idleness of barren speculation. She was rather
confirmed in her belief that things did not stand being looked into.
Practical and subtle in her way, she brought Stevie to the front without
loss of time, because in her the singleness of purpose had the unerring
nature and the force of an instinct.