invisibility to cast a curious eye around
him, and he found the apartment even beyond the praises which Madame
Pipelet had bestowed on the extreme cleanliness of the humble home of
Rigolette. Nothing could be more lively or better arranged than this
apartment. A gray paper, with green garlands, covered the walls; the
floor, painted of a red colour, shone like a looking-glass; a small
earthenware stone was placed in the chimney, where was piled up, very
symmetrically, a small store of wood, cut so short, so thin, that,
without exaggeration, each piece might have been compared to a very
large match. On the stone mantelpiece, painted gray marble, there were,
for ornaments, two pots of common flowers, covered in with green moss; a
small case of boxwood contained a silver watch instead of a pendule. On
one side was a brass candlestick, shining like gold, and having in it a
small piece of wax-light; and, on the other side, no less
resplendently, one of those lamps formed by a cylinder and a brass
reflector, supported by a bar of steel, and having a base of lead. A
tolerably large square glass, in a black wood frame, was over the
mantelpiece. Curtains of gray and green Persian cloth, with a
woollen-fringed border, cut and worked by Rigolette, and hung in light
rings of black iron, decorated the windows; and the bed was covered with
a counterpane of the same make and material. Two closets, with glass
doors, and painted white, were in each side of the recess, enclosing, no
doubt, household utensils,--the portable stove, the fountain, brooms,
etc.; for none of these things spoiled the neat appearance of the
chamber. A chest of drawers of well veined and shining walnut-tree; four
chairs of the same wood; a large table for ironing and working, covered
with one of those green woollen coverings which we sometimes see in a
peasant's cottage; a straw armchair, with a stool to match, the constant
seat of the workwoman,--such was the unpretending furniture. There was,
too, in one of the window-seats, a cage with two canary birds, the
faithful companions of Rigolette. By one of those notable ideas which
occur to the poor, this cage was placed in the middle of a large wooden
chest, about a foot deep, placed on a table. This chest, which Rigolette
called her bird's garden, was filled with mould, covered with moss
during the winter, and in spring the young girl sowed grass seeds, and
planted flowers there. Rodolph examined the place with inter