We stand aside in the half-lit passage, taking good care that we have no contact with the walls; the air we breathe is thick with unpleasant odours, and we realise at once, and to our complete satisfaction, the smell and flavour of a common lodging-house.

We know instinctively that we have made its acquaintance before, it seems familiar to us, but we are puzzled about it until we remember we have had a foretaste of it given to us by some lodging-house habitues that we met.

The aroma of a common lodging-house cannot be concealed, it is not to be mistaken.

The hour is six o'clock p.m., the days are short, for it is November.

The lodgers are arriving, so we stand and watch them as they pass the little office and pay their sixpences.