Awaking one night after midnight I heard the unusual sound of voices in earnest conversation in the room below; this went on until I fell asleep again.

In the morning we noticed that our landlady had a somewhat haggard face, and that the daughters also had pale faces, with purple marks under the eyes, as if they had kept their mother company in some sorrowful vigil.

We were not left long in ignorance of the cause of this cloud.

The good woman asked if we had been much disturbed by the talking.

I answered that I had heard voices and had supposed that friends from a distance had arrived overnight and that they had sat up talking to a late hour.