on in
front of her, leaving the poultry to look after itself. "Of course I
will," said he. "I'll do anything you wish, Madame Lisa."

When they got down below, the beautiful Lisa felt quite suffocated by
the dank atmosphere of the cellar. She stood at the bottom step, and
raised her eyes to look at the vaulted roofing of red and white bricks
arching slightly between the iron ribs upheld by small columns. What
made her hesitate more than the gloominess of the place was a warm,
penetrating odour, the exhalations of large numbers of living creatures,
which irritated her nostrils and throat.

"What a nasty smell!" she exclaimed. "It must be very unhealthy down
here."

"It never does me any harm," replied Marjolin in astonishment. "There's
nothing unpleasant about the smell when you've got accustomed to it; and
it's very warm and cosy down here in the wintertime."

As Lisa followed him, however, she declared that the strong scent of the
poultry quite turned her stomach, and that she would certainly not
be able to eat a fowl for the next two months. All around her, the
storerooms, the small cabins where the stallkeepers keep their live
stock, formed regular streets, intersecting each other at right angles.
There were only a few scattered gas lights, and the little alleys seemed
wrapped in sleep like the lanes of a village where the inhabitants
have all gone to bed. Marjolin made Lisa feel the close-meshed wiring,
stretched on a framework of cast iron; and as she made her way along one
of the streets she amused herself by reading the names of the different
tenants, which were inscribed on blue labels.

"Monsieur Gavard's place is quite at the far end," said the young man,
still walking on.

They turned to the left, and found themselves in a sort of blind alley,
a dark, gloomy spot where not a ray of light penetrated. Gavard was not
there.

"Oh, it makes no difference," said Marjolin. "I can show you our birds
just the same. I have a key of the storeroom."

Lisa followed him into the darkness.

"You don't suppose that I can see your birds in this black oven, do
you?" she asked, laughing.

Marjolin did not reply at once; but presently he stammered out that
there was always a candle in the storeroom. He was fumbling about the
lock, and seemed quite unable to find the keyhole. As Lisa came up to
help him, she felt a hot breath on her neck; and when the young man had
at last succeeded in opening the door and lighted th