Quotation from: The Secret Agent

Written by: Joseph Conrad


The superhuman vehemence of that whispered statement completely stunned
Comrade Ossipon. Winnie Verloc turning about held him by both arms,
facing him under the falling mist in the darkness and solitude of Brett
Place, in which all sounds of life seemed lost as if in a triangular well
of asphalt and bricks, of blind houses and unfeeling stones.


"No; I didn't know," he declared, with a sort of flabby stupidity, whose
comical aspect was lost upon a woman haunted by the fear of the gallows,
"but I do now. I--I understand," he floundered on, his mind speculating
as to what sort of atrocities Verloc could have practised under the
sleepy, placid appearances of his married estate. It was positively
awful. "I understand," he repeated, and then by a sudden inspiration
uttered an--"Unhappy woman!" of lofty commiseration instead of the more
familiar "Poor darling!" of his usual practice. This was no usual case.
He felt conscious of something abnormal going on, while he never lost
sight of the greatness of the stake. "Unhappy, brave woman!"

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