Sentence:  `` - had enough brains to call ya up so as ya could do sompin about it when the parents - I coulda let her go go '' - His eyes <WSD>were</WSD> lowered , so he could n't have seen the narrow , pointed face of his companion suddenly writhe with fury ; but he was aware of it just the same . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)