The unforgiving sunlight seemed to cut the court into two parts.

On the shady side was a dripping water tap with three small hens scratching for worms with their filth-smeared claws.
Gervaise slowly gazed about, lowering her glance from the sixth floor to the paving stones, then raising it again, surprised at the vastness, feeling as it were in the midst of a living organ, in the very heart of a city, and interested in the house, as though it were a giant before her.
"Is madame seeking for any one ?" called out the inquisitive concierge, emerging from her room.
The young woman explained that she was waiting for a friend.

She returned to the street; then as Coupeau did not come, she went back to the courtyard seized with the desire to take another look.

She did not think the house ugly.

Amongst the rags hanging from the windows she discovered various cheerful touches--a wall-flower blooming in a pot, a cage of chirruping canaries, shaving-glasses shining like stars in the depth of the shadow.