After a period of stillness up there, during which he figured her to himself with her head out, he heard the sash being lowered slowly.

Then she made a few steps, and sat down.
Every resonance of his house was familiar to Mr Verloc, who was thoroughly domesticated.

When next he heard his wife's footsteps overhead he knew, as well as if he had seen her doing it, that she had been putting on her walking shoes.

Mr Verloc wriggled his shoulders slightly at this ominous symptom, and moving away from the table, stood with his back to the fireplace, his head on one side, and gnawing perplexedly at the tips of his fingers.

He kept track of her movements by the sound.