The only manufacturer of the village, and his wife, lived in it all the year round; so did one of the shopkeepers.

Several other quiet people lived there all winter; in summer the prices were raised, and it was filled to overflowing by more fashionable visitors from the two cities that were within a short journey.

This "hotel" was an enormous wooden house, built in the simplest fashion, a wide corridor running from front to rear on each storey, on which the room doors opened.

Rooms and corridors were large, lofty, and well-lighted by large windows.

The dining-room, billiard-room, office, and bar-room, on the ground-floor, together with the stairs and corridors, were uncarpeted, painted all over a light slate grey.