Some children were playing on the Place, which, planted as it was with a few scrubby trees, and edged with humble shops,--a fruiterer's, a grocer's and a baker's,--looked like some square in a small provincial town.

In a corner, on the left, Guillaume's dwelling, which had been whitewashed during the previous spring, showed its bright frontage and five lifeless windows, for all its life was on the other, the garden, side, which overlooked Paris and the far horizon.
Pierre mustered his courage and, pulling a brass knob which glittered like gold, rang the bell.

There came a gay, distant jingle; but for a moment nobody appeared, and he was about to ring again, when the door was thrown wide open, revealing a passage which ran right through the house, beyond which appeared the ocean of Paris, the endless sea of house roofs bathed in sunlight.

And against this spacious, airy background, stood a young woman of twenty-six, clad in a simple gown of black woolen stuff, half covered by a large blue apron.

She had her sleeves rolled up above her elbows, and her arms and hands were still moist with water which she had but imperfectly wiped away.
A moment's surprise and embarrassment ensued.