They re-entered the house; Vandover heard their voices, now in one room, now in another.

They were looking over their future home again; evidently they lived close by.
Suddenly the burnisher's wife came out upon the front steps, looking down into the little garden, calling for Vandover.

She was not pretty; she had a nose like a man and her chin was broad.
"Say, there," she called to Vandover, "do you mean to say that you've finished inside here ?" "Yes," answered Vandover, straightening up, nodding his head.

"Yes, I've finished." "Well, just come in here and look at this." Vandover followed her into the little parlour.

Her sister was there, very fat, smelling somehow of tallow candles and cooked cabbage; nearby stood the little boy still eating his bread and butter.
"Look at that baseboard," exclaimed the burnisher's wife.