Yet again, he was a little sick of the women of the streets and the bagnio.

There were too many coarse, evil features in connection with such contacts.

For a little while, the false tinsel-glitter of the house of ill repute appealed to him, for there was a certain force to its luxury--rich, as a rule, with red-plush furniture, showy red hangings, some coarse but showily-framed pictures, and, above all, the strong-bodied or sensuously lymphatic women who dwelt there, to (as his mother phrased it) prey on men.

The strength of their bodies, the lust of their souls, the fact that they could, with a show of affection or good-nature, receive man after man, astonished and later disgusted him.

After all, they were not smart.