What a contradiction! He walked with his eyes lowered, and at this moment, before him on the pavement, he saw an object that glittered in the glare of the gas.

He approached it, and found that it was a butcher's knife, that must have been lost, either on going to the market or the slaughterhouse.
He hesitated a moment whether he should pick it up or leave it there; then looking all about him, and seeing no one in the deserted street, and hearing no sound of footsteps in the silence, he bent quickly and took it.
Caffie's fate was decided..