"There are no tape-worms in me. It's you that has the tape-worms,
that's why you are so skinny."

And she imperturbably continues to eat, and after dinner feels
herself sleepy, like a boa constrictor, eructs loudly, drinks
water, hiccups, and, by stealth, if no one sees her, makes the
sign of the cross over her mouth, through an old habit.

But already the ringing voice of Zociya can. be heard through the
corridors and rooms:

"Get dressed, ladies, get dressed. There's no use in sitting
around...To work..."

After a few minutes in all the rooms of the establishment there
are smells of singed hair, boric-thymol soap, cheap eau-de-
cologne. The girls are dressing for the evening.





CHAPTER IV.


The late twilight came on, and after it the warm, dark night, but
for long, until very midnight, did the deep crimson glow of the
sky still smoulder. Simeon, the porter of the establishment, has
lit all the lamps along the walls of the drawing room, and the