Mr Verloc contemplated her back and the arrangement of her hair for a time, then walked away from the kitchen door.

Mrs Verloc's philosophical, almost disdainful incuriosity, the foundation of their accord in domestic life made it extremely difficult to get into contact with her, now this tragic necessity had arisen.

Mr Verloc felt this difficulty acutely.

He turned around the table in the parlour with his usual air of a large animal in a cage.
Curiosity being one of the forms of self-revelation,--a systematically incurious person remains always partly mysterious.

Every time he passed near the door Mr Verloc glanced at his wife uneasily.