And if this feeling was correct, its mental form took an unrefined shape corresponding to her origin and station.

"I would rather walk the streets all the days of my life," she thought.

But this creature, whose moral nature had been subjected to a shock of which, in the physical order, the most violent earthquake of history could only be a faint and languid rendering, was at the mercy of mere trifles, of casual contacts.

She sat down.

With her hat and veil she had the air of a visitor, of having looked in on Mr Verloc for a moment.