Surely it was not still so horrible as it had been?
Perhaps if his life became pure, he would be able to expel every sign of evil passion from the face.

Perhaps the signs of evil had already gone away.

He would go and look.
He took the lamp from the table and crept upstairs.

As he unbarred the door, a smile of joy flitted across his strangely young-looking face and lingered for a moment about his lips.

Yes, he would be good, and the hideous thing that he had hidden away would no longer be a terror to him.