When they got back into the carriage they felt greater strangers than before. - Émile Zola

The ground was trembling under their feet, and they clung to the resolutions made in their calmer hours so as not to sink into the abyss.

The sort of remorse Laurent experienced was purely physical. His body, his irritated nerves and trembling frame alone were afraid of the drowned man. His conscience was for nothing in his terror. He did not feel the least regret at having killed Camille. When he was calm, when the spectre did not happen to be there, he would have committed the murder over again, had he thought his interests absolutely required it.

When they seated themselves in their carriage, they seemed to be greater strangers than before.