ade.

A boy of twelve, or, perhaps, sixteen--for he was like a dwarf, with a
large wen upon his neck, and always carrying a broom in his hand--was
the domestic of the place.

The habitues entered by the gateway of the courtyard; the public entered
by the shop.

In the high wall, facing the street, and to the right of the entrance to
the courtyard, was a square opening, serving at once as a door and a
window. This was the shop. The square opening had a shutter and a
frame--the only shutter in all the house which had hinges and bolts.
Behind this square aperture, which was open to the street, was a little
room, a compartment obtained by curtailing the sleeping shed in the
courtyard. Over the door, passers-by read the inscription in charcoal,
"Curiosities sold here." On three boards, forming the shop front, were
several china pots without ears, a Chinese parasol made of goldbeater's
skin, and ornamented with figures, torn here and there, and impossible
to open or shut; fragments of iron, and shapeless pieces of old pottery,
and dilapidated hats and bonnets, three or four shells, some packets of
old bone and metal buttons, a tobacco-box with a portrait of
Marie-Antoinette, and a dog's-eared volume of Boisbertrand's _Algebra_.
Such was the stock of the shop; this assortment completed the
"curiosities." The shop communicated by a back door with the yard in
which was the well. It was furnished with a table and a stool. The woman
with a wooden leg presided at the counter.

VII

NOCTURNAL BUYERS AND MYSTERIOUS SELLERS

Clubin had been absent from the Jean Auberge all the evening of Tuesday.
On the Wednesday night he was absent again.

In the dusk of that evening, two strangers penetrated into the mazes of
the Ruelle Coutanchez. They stopped in front of the Jacressade. One of
them knocked at the window; the door of the shop opened, and they
entered. The woman with the wooden leg met them with the smile which she
reserved for respectable citizens. There was a candle on the table.

The strangers were, in fact, respectable citizens. The one who had
knocked said, "Good-day, mistress. I have come for that affair."

The woman with the wooden leg smiled again, and went out by the
back-door leading to the courtyard, and where the well was. A moment
afterwards the back-door was opened again, and a man stood in the
doorway. He wore a cap and a blouse. It was easy to see the shape of
something under his blouse. He had bit