The very hair itself, turning black and curly, from the temples, seemed to lie glossy and smooth by reason of character that willed that it should lie so.
One small coal-oil lamp was the light of the house.

When Ann had closed doors and windows she took it up and went into the bedroom.

Neither room was small; there was a shadowy part round their edges which the lamp did not brighten.

In the dimmer part of this inner room was a bed, on which a fair young girl was sleeping.
A curious thing now occurred.

Ann, placing herself between the lamp and the window, deliberately went through a pantomime of putting herself to bed.