Tantaine seemed to know the quarter well, and went on until he reached the Champs des Alouettes.

Then, with a sigh of satisfaction, he halted before a large, three-storied house, standing on a piece of ground surrounded by a mouldering wooden fence.

The aspect of the house had something sinister and gloomy about it, and for a moment Tantaine paused as if he could not make up his mind to enter it; but at last he did so.

The interior was as dingy and dilapidated as the outside.

There were two rooms on the ground floor, one of which was strewn with straw, with a few filthy-looking quilts and blankets spread over it.