Crucially, we learn that Stevie set off the attack deliberately, in order to target the employer who had generously given him a position, in order to vindicate, not his own grievances but those of others who sought to exploit him.

Stevie’s abortive act of terrorism originates in his deep and admirable sympathy for others; that sympathy is exploited by the cynical in order to launch a dangerous attack on the innocent. Of course this is how Conrad understands the anarchist terrorism of his own day, the subject of The Secret Agent.

A telling moment, and a nice bit of foreshadowing. The story presents, in miniature, a version of the explosive drama that will eventually kill Stevie. Elements of foreshadowing include a foreign agent, explosives, and the targeting of the rich (businessmen in “silk hats”).

We learn two key facts about Stevie. One is that he is mentally disabled — this is suggested by the “vacant” aspect of his lower lip, and the condescending praise he receives for learning how to read and write. We learn, further, that efforts to give him a profession, even a very simple one like a messenger, ended in abject failure.

The second thing we learn about Stevie is that he is enormously sympathetic to those weaker than himself — lost or hurt animals. Conrad notes, acidly, that to most of his countrymen an injured animal is an entertaining “spectacle”; Stevie, though mentally disabled, possesses a humanity that they seem to lack.

Here we learn more about the brother-in-law mentioned in the opening sentence; from that paragraph, we could infer that the brother-in-law was mentally or physically disabled in some way, since otherwise it would make no sense to say that he was left “nominally” in charge of the store, with the actual authority given to Winnie. This is confirmed here by Conrad — we learn that Stevie is “delicate” and suffers from a still unspecified disability.

Conrad confirms that Winnie is more or less complicit in Verloc’s activities, depicting her here as making an implicit promise to keep all of his actions a secret.

Earlier, we heard Verloc described as the “protector of society”; here Conrad confirms that his secretive business is mixed up with radical politics of some kind.

Conrad has not been very subtle in depicting Verloc as caught up in some nefarious conspiracy.

This phrase hints that the business hinted at may be some form of political protest — or terrorism.

As we will discover in Chapter 2, however, Verloc is a double agent, working to cement the status quo by throwing the public into a panic about terrorism. He indeed sees himself as protecting the reigning order of things.

Having hinted with a rather heavy hand for several paragraphs, Conrad now tells us directly that Mr Verloc’s business is “shady”

Another seller of Shady wares…

Conrad drives home how suspicious the customers here are — they are dressed to avoid detection and surveillance.

I see nothing suspicious about this look…