Every sound in the street below sent the blood back upon his heart.

At length there came the fumbling of a latch-key--he could hear it plainly--and then the heavy foot ascending the stairs.

Her glazed eyes and red cheeks told the familiar tale.

She sat down opposite him and was silent for a minute, half dozing; then she seemed suddenly to become conscious of his presence, and the words began to flow from her tongue, every one cutting him to the quick, poisoning his soul with their venom of jealousy and vulgar spite.

Contention was the breath of her nostrils; the prime impulse of her heart was suspicion.