At times black shapes passed before the fire, shutting off this last bit of brightness, silhouettes of men so strangely magnified that their arms and legs were indistinct.
Gervaise, not daring to venture in, called from the doorway in a faint voice: "Monsieur Goujet! Monsieur Goujet!" Suddenly all became lighted up.

Beneath the puff of the bellows a jet of white flame had ascended and the whole interior of the shed could be seen, walled in by wooden planks, with openings roughly plastered over, and brick walls reinforcing the corners.

Coal-ash had painted the whole expanse a sooty grey.

Spider webs hung from the beams like rags hung up to dry, heavy with the accumulated dust of years.

On shelves along the walls, or hanging from nails, or tossed into corners, she saw rusty iron, battered implements and huge tools.