He laid down the instruments of his gluttony and for a full half minute forgot the steaming stew before him, whose garlic-laden odours had been assailing his nostrils some minutes previously with pungent delight.
Others, too, of that hungry gorging company found themselves disturbed in their ordinary occupation by this vision of sweet and tender beauty that flitted about them, ministering to their voracity.
To none more than to Rosenblatt himself was the transformation of Irma a surprise and a mystery.

It made him uneasy.

He had an instinctive feeling that this was the beginning of an emancipation that would leave him one day without his slaves.

Paulina, too, would learn the new ways; then she and the girl, who now spent long hours of hard labour in his service, would demand money for their toil.

The thought grieved him sore.