"I wish I knew he was—and damned," she snapped, with a tightening of her scarlet lips.

He studied her in silence a moment, with narrowing eyes and tightening lips.

There would be no more sleeping under hedges and tightening of belts.

She tried to make her voice natural, but there was a tightening in her throat.

The only result of his shouting was a tightening of the pressure of her arms.

Phil felt a tightening in his jaws, and he was grateful for the darkness.

"Then let me get some fuel," Fannia said, tightening his grip on Donnaught's throat.

There was a faint dash of color on Mr. Vernon's cheeks, and a tightening of the lips.

"Don't talk of dying," he says, with a shudder, tightening his clasp.

The elderly youth answered her appeal with a tightening of his features.