She could barely make out the movement of his lips.

All the rest of his face was lost in shadow.

As he spoke she sometimes lost his meaning and the stir of his lips became a nameless gibbering.

The grey gloom settled more deeply round the room and over her heart while he talked.
He explained how the difference had risen between the tall stranger and Whistling Dan.

How Dan had been insulted time and again and borne it with a sort of childish stupidity.