She looked at poor Mr.Null, as if it was his fault.
Left in the retirement of his room, Mr.Le Frank sat at the writing-table, frowning and biting his nails.
Were these evidences of a troubled mind connected with the infamous proposal which he had addressed to Mrs.Gallilee?
Nothing of the sort! Having sent away his letter, he was now at leisure to let his personal anxieties absorb him without restraint.

He was thinking of Carmina.
The oftener his efforts were baffled, the more resolute he became to discover the secret of her behaviour to him.

For the hundredth time he said to himself, "Her devilish malice reviles me behind my back, and asks me before my face to shake hands and be friends." The more outrageously unreasonable his suspicions became, under the exasperating influence of suspense, the more inveterately his vindictive nature held to its delusion.

After meeting her in the hall at Fairfield Gardens, he really believed Carmina's illness to have been assumed as a means of keeping out of his way.

If a friend had said to him, "But what reason have you to think so ?"--he would have smiled compassionately, and have given that friend up for a shallow-minded man.
He stole out again, and listened, undetected, at their door.