but devoid of
furniture, and given up to dust, spiders, and rats. The apartments on
the floor above them were the home of great numbers of bats, owls, and
jackdaws, who found ready ingress through the large holes in the roof.
Every evening they flew forth in flocks, with much flapping of wings,
and weird, melancholy cries and shrieks, in search of the food not to be
found in the immediate vicinity of this forlorn mansion.

The apartments on the ground floor contained nothing but a few bundles
of straw, a heap of corn-cobs, and some antiquated gardening implements.
In one of them, however, was a rude bed, covered with a single, coarse
blanket; presumably that of the only domestic remaining in the whole
establishment.

It was from the kitchen chimney that the little spiral of smoke escaped
which was seen from without. A few sticks were burning in the wide,
old-fashioned fireplace, but the flames looked pale under the bright
light that streamed down upon them through the broad, straight flue. The
pot that hung from the clumsy iron crane was boiling sleepily, and if
the curious visitor could have peeped into it he would have seen that
the little cabbage bed in the garden had contributed of its produce to
the pot-au-feu. An old black cat was sitting as close to the fire as he
could without singeing his whiskers, and gravely watching the simmering
pot with longing eyes. His ears had been closely cropped, and he had
not a vestige of a tail, so that he looked like one of those grotesque
Japanese chimeras that everybody is familiar with. Upon the table, near
at hand, a white plate, a tin drinking cup, and a china dish, bearing
the family arms stamped in blue, were neatly arranged, evidently in
readiness for somebody's supper. For a long time the cat remained
perfectly motionless, intently watching the pot which had almost ceased
to boil as the fire got low, and the silence continued unbroken; but
at last a slow, heavy step was heard approaching from without, and
presently the door opened to admit an old man, who looked half peasant,
half gentleman's servant. The black cat immediately quitted his place
by the fire and went to meet him; rubbing himself against the newcomer's
legs, arching his back and purring loudly; testifying his joy in every
way possible to him.

"Well, well, Beelzebub," said the old man, bending down and stroking him
affectionately, "are you really so glad to see me? Yes, I know you are,
and it pleases me,