The only embellishment that Felicite could obtain was to have the walls hung with orange-hued paper covered with large flowers.

Thus the drawing room had a strange yellow glow, which filled it with an artificial dazzling light.

The furniture, the paper, and the window curtains were yellow; the carpet and even the marble table-tops showed touches of yellow.

However, when the curtains were drawn the colours harmonised fairly well and the drawing-room looked almost decent.
But Felicite had dreamed of quite a different kind of luxury.

She regarded with mute despair this ill-concealed misery.