She saw the curious whiteness round his nostrils and his eyes, the fixed hellish look on his face.
"You'll eat a mince-pie in the kitchen with us, for luck ?" she said to him, detaining him till last.
But he turned laughing to her.
"Nay," he said, "I must be getting home." He turned and went straight out of the house.

Watching him, the landlady's face became yellow with passion and rage.
"That little poisonous Indian viper," she said aloud, attributing Aaron's mood to the doctor.

Her husband was noisily bolting the door.
Outside it was dark and frosty.

A gang of men lingered in the road near the closed door.

Aaron found himself among them, his heart bitterer than steel.
The men were dispersing.