ompanion. The
charcoal-dealer did not leave the door of the cabaret, but listened
attentively, and gazed from time to time through a small hole which had
been accidentally made in the thick coat of whitening, with which the
windows of such haunts as these are usually covered on the inside.

CHAPTER II.

THE OGRESS.

The White Rabbit is situated in the centre of the Rue aux Feves. This
tavern occupies the ground floor of a lofty house, the front of which is
formed by two windows, which are styled "a guillotine." Hanging from the
front of the door leading to a dark and arched passage, was an oblong
lamp, on the cracked panes of which were written, in red letters,
"Nightly Lodgings Here."

The Chourineur, the unknown, and the Goualeuse entered into a large but
low apartment, with the ceiling smoked, and crossed by black rafters,
just visible by the flickering light of a miserable suspended lamp. The
cracked walls, formerly covered with plaster, were now ornamented in
places with coarse drawings, or sentences of flash and obscenity.

The floor, composed of earth beaten together with saltpetre, was thick
with dirt; an armful of straw--an apology for a carpet--was placed at
the foot of the ogress's counter, which was at the right hand of the
door, just beneath the dim lantern.

On each side of this room there were six tables, one end of each of
which was nailed to the wall, as well as the benches on either side of
them. At the farther end was a door leading to a kitchen; on the right,
near the counter, was a passage which led into a den where persons slept
for the night at three halfpence a head.

A few words will describe the ogress and her guests. The lady was called
Mother Ponisse; her triple trade consisted in letting furnished
apartments, keeping a public-house, and _lending_ clothes to the
miserable creatures who infest these foul streets.

The ogress was about forty years of age, bulky, fat, and heavy. She had
a full colour, and strong symptoms of a beard. Her deep voice, her
enormous arms, and coarse hands betokened uncommon strength. She wore on
her cap a large red and yellow handkerchief; a shawl of rabbit-skin was
crossed over her bosom, and tied behind; her woollen gown fell upon
black wooden shoes, scorched almost black by the small stove at which
she warmed her feet; and, to crown her beauty, she had a copper
complexion, which the use of strong liquors had materially tended to
heighten.

The