Therese and Laurent took the parts adapted to them, and proceeded with extreme prudence, calculating the slightest gesture, and the least word.

At the bottom of their hearts, they were devoured by a feeling of impatience that stiffened and strained their nerves.

They lived in a state of constant irritation, and it required all their natural cowardice to compel them to show a smiling and peaceful exterior.
If they yearned to bring the business to an end, it was because they could no longer remain separate and solitary.

Each night, the drowned man visited them, insomnia stretched them on beds of live coal and turned them over with fiery tongs.

The state of enervation in which they lived, nightly increased the fever of their blood, which resulted in atrocious hallucinations rising up before them.
Therese no longer dared enter her room after dusk.