hed up against women in the large shops, and whenever there was a
crowd, and that he especially looked out for those ladies of easy
virtue, for nothing is more exciting than those half-closed shutters,
behind which a face is indistinctly seen, and from which one hears a
furtive: _"P'st! P'st!"_

He used to say to himself: "Who is she? Is she young and pretty? Is she
some old woman, who is terribly skillful at her business, but who yet
does not venture to show herself any longer? Or is she some new
beginner, who has not yet acquired the boldness of an old hand? In any
case, it is the unknown, perhaps, that is my ideal during the time it
takes me to find my way upstairs;" and always as he went up, his heart
beat, as it does at a first meeting with a beloved mistress.

But he had never felt such a delicious shiver as he did on the day on
which he penetrated into that old house in the blind alley in
Menilmontant. He could not have said why, for he had often gone after
so-called love in much stranger places; but now, without any reason, he
had a presentiment that he was going to meet with an adventure, and that
gave him a delightful sensation.

The woman who had made the sign to him, lived on the third floor, and
all the way upstairs his excitement increased, until his heart was
beating violently when he reached the landing. At the same time, he was
going up, he smelt a peculiar odor, which grew stronger and stronger,
and which he had tried in vain to analyze, though all he could arrive at
was, that it smelt like a chemist's shop.

The door on the right, at the end of the passage, was opened as soon as
he put his foot on the landing, and the woman said, in a low voice:

"Come in, my dear."

A whiff of a very strong smell met his nostrils through the open door,
and suddenly he exclaimed:

"How stupid I was! I know what it is now; it is carbolic acid, is it
not?"

"Yes," the woman replied. "Don't you like it, dear? It is very
wholesome, you know."

The woman was not ugly, although not young; she had very good eyes,
although they were sad and sunken in her head; evidently she had been
crying, very much quite recently, and that imparted a special spice to
the vague smile which she put on, so as to appear more amiable.

Seized by his romantic ideas once more, and under the influence of the
presentiment which he had had just before, he thought--and the idea
filled him with pleasure:

"She is some widow, whom poverty