Quotation from: The Secret Agent

Written by: Joseph Conrad

Mrs Verloc looked straight ahead at the perspective of her escape. Now
and then, like a sable streamer blown across a road, the words "The drop
given was fourteen feet" got in the way of her tense stare. Through her
black veil the whites of her big eyes gleamed lustrously like the eyes of
a masked woman.

Ossipon's rigidity had something business-like, a queer official
expression. He was heard again all of a sudden, as though he had
released a catch in order to speak.