He ordered the dinner and he took the box, and at the hour fixed he was again at her lodgings.
The woman of the house with a smile showed him into Mrs. Hurtle's sitting-room, and he at once perceived that the smile was intended to welcome him as an accepted lover. It was a smile half of congratulation to the lover, half of congratulation to herself as a woman that another man had been caught by the leg and made fast. Who does not know the smile? What man, who has been caught and made sure, has not felt a certain dissatisfaction at being so treated, understanding that the smile is intended to convey to him a sense of his own captivity? It has, however, generally mattered but little to us. If we have felt that something of ridicule was intended, because we have been regarded as cocks with their spurs cut away, then we also have a pride when we have declared to ourselves that upon the whole we have gained more than we have lost. But with Paul Montague at the present moment there was no satisfaction, no pride,--only a feeling of danger which every hour became deeper, and stronger, with less chance of escape. He was almost tempted at this moment to detain the woman, and tell her the truth,--and bear the immediate consequences. But there would be treason in doing so, and he would not, could not do it.

 ordered the dinner and the box. At the hour fixed he was again at her lodgings.
The woman who owned the lodging-house showed him into Mrs. Hurtle's sitting-room, welcoming him with a congratulatory smile. Paul Montague felt no satisfaction at this - only a sense of danger which every hour became stronger. He was almost tempted to tell the woman the truth; but he could not do it.
