All at once it seemed very still.

The only noises were the occasional footfalls of a policeman and the persistent calling of ducks and geese in the closed market across the way.

The street was asleep.
When it is night and dark, and one is awake and alone, one's thoughts take the color of the surroundings; become gloomy, sombre, and very dismal.

All at once an idea came to Trina, a dark, terrible idea; worse, even, than the idea of McTeague's death.
"Oh, no," she cried.

"Oh, no.