She gave advice to Therese, beforehand, as to buying and selling, and posted her up in all the tricks of small tradespeople.
At length, the family quitted the house beside the Seine, and on the evening of the same day, were installed in the Arcade of the Pont Neuf.
When Therese entered the shop, where in future she was to live, it seemed to her that she was descending into the clammy soil of a grave.
She felt quite disheartened, and shivered with fear.

She looked at the dirty, damp gallery, visited the shop, and ascending to the first floor, walked round each room.

These bare apartments, without furniture, looked frightful in their solitude and dilapidation.

The young woman could not make a gesture, or utter a word.

She was as if frozen.