The entire tenement seemed to be resting sleepily in the peacefulness of a Sunday afternoon.

The workshops on the ground floor were closed.

Gaping windows revealed tables in some apartments that were already set for dinner, awaiting families out working up an appetite by strolling along the fortifications.
Then, in the midst of the empty, echoing courtyard, Nana, Pauline and other big girls engaged in games of battledore and shuttlecock.

They had grown up together and were now becoming queens of their building.
Whenever a man crossed the court, flutelike laugher would arise, and then starched skirts would rustle like the passing of a gust of wind.
The games were only an excuse for them to make their escape.

Suddenly stillness fell upon the tenement.