needle-stab

Updated: May 29, 2025

He considered her much less effective here than in her box. But her febrile gaze was effective enough to produce in him the needle-stab again, the feeling of gloom, of pessimism, of being gradually overtaken by an unseen and mysterious avenger. "Yes, indeed!" said he. He thought to himself: "Now's the time for me to behave like Edward Henry Machin, and teach these people a thing or two!"

Arnold Bennett - The Regent