There was no furniture except a broken chair, upon which lay a dog whip with plaited leather lash.

Round the room, against the wall, stood some twenty children, dirty, and in tattered clothes.

Some had violins in their hands, and others stood behind harps as tall as themselves.

Upon the violins Tantaine noticed there were chalk marks at various distances.

In the middle of the room was a man, tall and erect as a dart, with flat, ugly features and lank, greasy hair hanging down on his shoulders.