which ended at a narrow door opening onto the street, and
above it, all night long a little lamp burned, behind wire bars, such as
one still sees in some towns, at the foot of some shrine of a saint.

The house, which was old and damp, rather smelled of mildew. At times
there was an odor of Eau de Cologne in the passages, or a half open door
downstairs admitted the noise of the common men sitting and drinking
downstairs, to the first floor, much to the disgust of the gentlemen who
were there. _Madame_, who was familiar with those of her customers with
whom she was on friendly terms, did not leave the saloon, and took much
interest in what was going on in the town, and they regularly told her
all the news. Her serious conversation was a change from the ceaseless
chatter of the three women; it was a rest from the obscene jokes of
those stout individuals who every evening indulged in the common-place
debauchery of drinking a glass of liquor in company with prostitutes.

The names of the girls on the first floor were Fernande, Raphaele, and
Rosa, the _Jade_. As the staff was limited, _Madame_ had endeavored that
each member of it should be a pattern, an epitome of the feminine type,
so that every customer might find as nearly as possible, the realization
of his ideal. Fernande represented the handsome blonde; she was very
tall, rather fat, and lazy; a country girl, who could not get rid of her
freckles, and whose short, light, almost colorless, tow-like hair, which
was like combed-out flax, barely covered her head.

Raphaele, who came from Marseilles, played the indispensable part of the
handsome Jewess, and was thin, with high cheek bones, which were covered
with rouge, and her black hair, which was always covered with pomatum,
curled onto her forehead. Her eyes would have been handsome, if the
right one had not had a speck in it. Her Roman nose came down over a
square jaw, where two false upper teeth contrasted strangely with the
bad color of the rest.

Rosa, _the Jade_, was a little roll of fat, nearly all stomach, with
very short legs, and from morning till night she sang songs, which were
alternately indecent or sentimental, in a harsh voice, told silly,
interminable tales, and only stopped talking in order to eat, and left
off eating in order to talk; she was never still, and was active as a
squirrel, in spite of her fat, and of her short legs; and her laugh,
which was a torrent of shrill cries, resounded here and t