ad mahogany furniture, upholstered in green
rep with a yellow pattern. The bedroom was so small that the bed
three-parts filled it. It occupied the further end, stretching from one
wall to the other--the large bed of a furnished lodging-house, shrouded
in heavy blue curtains also of rep, and covered with an eider-down quilt
of red silk stained with suspicious-looking spots.

Duroy, uneasy and displeased, thought: "This place will cost, Lord knows
how much. I shall have to borrow again. It is idiotic what she has
done."

The door opened, and Clotilde came in like a whirlwind, with
outstretched arms and rustling skirts. She was delighted. "Isn't it
nice, eh, isn't it nice? And on the ground floor, too; no stairs to go
up. One could get in and out of the windows without the doorkeeper
seeing one. How we will love one another here!"

He kissed her coldly, not daring to put the question that rose to his
lips. She had placed a large parcel on the little round table in the
middle of the room. She opened it, and took out a cake of soap, a bottle
of scent, a sponge, a box of hairpins, a buttonhook, and a small pair of
curling tongs to set right her fringe, which she got out of curl every
time. And she played at moving in, seeking a place for everything, and
derived great amusement from it.

She kept on chattering as she opened the drawers. "I must bring a little
linen, so as to be able to make a change if necessary. It will be very
convenient. If I get wet, for instance, while I am out, I can run in
here to dry myself. We shall each have one key, beside the one left with
the doorkeeper in case we forget it. I have taken the place for three
months, in your name, of course, since I could not give my own."

Then he said: "You will let me know when the rent is to be paid."

She replied, simply: "But it is paid, dear."

"Then I owe it to you."

"No, no, my dear; it does not concern you at all; this is a little fancy
of my own."

He seemed annoyed: "Oh, no, indeed; I can't allow that."

She came to him in a supplicating way, and placing her hands on his
shoulders, said: "I beg of you, George; it will give me so much pleasure
to feel that our little nest here is mine--all my own. You cannot be
annoyed at that. How can you? I wanted to contribute that much towards
our loves. Say you agree, Georgy; say you agree."

She implored him with looks, lips, the whole of her being. He held out,
refusing with an irritated air, and the