ry few people in the main hall. In the long horseshoe curve
there were only a few ordinary looking people, whose plebeian origin was
apparent in their manners, their clothes, the cut of their hair and
beard, their hats, their complexion. It was rarely that one saw from time
to time a man whom you suspected of having washed himself thoroughly, and
his whole make-up seemed to match. As for the women, they were always the
same, those frightful women you all know, ugly, tired looking, drooping,
and walking along in their lackadaisical manner, with that air of foolish
superciliousness which they assume, I do not know why.

I thought to myself that, in truth, not one of those languid creatures,
greasy rather than fat, puffed out here and thin there, with the contour
of a monk and the lower extremities of a bow-legged snipe, was worth the
louis that they would get with great difficulty after asking five.

But all at once I saw a little creature whom I thought attractive, not in
her first youth, but fresh, comical and tantalizing. I stopped her, and
stupidly, without thinking, I made an appointment with her for that
night. I did not want to go back to my own home alone, all alone; I
preferred the company and the caresses of this hussy.

And I followed her. She lived in a great big house in the Rue des
Martyrs. The gas was already extinguished on the stairway. I ascended the
steps slowly, lighting a candle match every few seconds, stubbing my foot
against the steps, stumbling and angry as I followed the rustle of the
skirt ahead of me.

She stopped on the fourth floor, and having closed the outer door she
said:

"Then you will stay till to-morrow?"

"Why, yes. You know that that was the agreement."

"All right, my dear, I just wanted to know. Wait for me here a minute, I
will be right back."

And she left me in the darkness. I heard her shutting two doors and then
I thought I heard her talking. I was surprised and uneasy. The thought
that she had a protector staggered me. But I have good fists and a solid
back. "We shall see," I said to myself.

I listened attentively with ear and mind. Some one was stirring about,
walking quietly and very carefully. Then another door was opened and I
thought I again heard some one talking, but in a very low tone.

She came back carrying a lighted candle.

"You may come in," she said.

She said "thou" in speaking to me, which was an indication of possession.
I went in and after pas