Sentence:  He looked at her out of himself , she thought , as he did only for an <WSD>instant</WSD> at a time , the look which always surprised her even now when his uncombable hair was yellowing a little and his breath came hard through his nicotine choked lungs , the look of the gaunt youth she had suddenly found herself staring at in the Tate Gallery on a Thursday once . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)