The tiles on the floor had been many of them unbedded, and the old house being in a state of subsidence, they stuck up like hummocks.

The count dashed recklessly forward, glanced through a half-open door and saw a very dirty room which resembled a barber's shop in a poor part of the town.

In was furnished with two chairs, a mirror and a small table containing a drawer which had been blackened by the grease from brushes and combs.

A great perspiring fellow with smoking shoulders was changing his linen there, while in a similar room next door a woman was drawing on her gloves preparatory to departure.

Her hair was damp and out of curl, as though she had just had a bath.