When he's working at that, he sees nothing; he does not eat, drink, or breathe for days and nights at a time ...

he becomes a living dead man and has no time to amuse himself with the trap-doors." She shivered again.

She was still holding him in her arms.

Then she sighed and said, in her turn: "Suppose it were HE!" "Are you afraid of him ?" "No, no, of course not," she said.
For all that, on the next day and the following days, Christine was careful to avoid the trap-doors.

Her agitation only increased as the hours passed.