Cats were purring on the counters of the fruit store and the tripe shop.

Madame Vigouroux, the coal dealer next door, returned her greetings.

She was a plump, short woman with bright eyes in a dark face who was always joking with the men while standing at her doorway.

Her shop was decorated in imitation of a rustic chalet.

The neighbors on the other side were a mother and daughter, the Cudorges.
The umbrella sellers kept their door closed and never came out to visit.
Gervaise always looked across the road, too, through the wide carriage entrance of the windowless wall opposite her, at the blacksmith's forge.
The courtyard was cluttered with vans and carts.