She did not say she was blameless, did not affect the thought.

She would have wished to say, for small encouragement she would have said, that her case could be pleaded.
Colney's features were not inviting, though the expression was not repellent.

She sighed deeply; and to count on something helpful by mentioning it, reverted to the 'prospect' which there appeared to be.
'Victor speaks of the certainty of his release.' His release! Her language pricked a satirist's gallbladder.

Colney refrained from speaking to wound, and enjoyed a silence that did it.
'Do you see any possibility ?--you knew her,' she said coldly.
'Counting the number of times he has been expecting the release, he is bound to believe it near at hand.' 'You don't ?' she asked: her bosom was up in a crisis of expectation for the answer: and on a pause of half-a-minute, she could have uttered the answer herself.
He perceived the insane eagerness through her mask, and despised it, pitying the woman.

'And you don't,' he said.