There are dogs basking on doorsteps, larger dogs rambling with idleness in the slow sway of their tails, and overhead black swifts (whose nests are in the roofs of the higher houses) dash to and fro, uttering their shrill screech.
The outer door of the bank is wide open--fastened back--ostentatiously open, and up the passage another mahogany door, closed, bears a polished brazen plate with the word 'Manager' engraved upon it.

Everything within is large and massive.

The swing door itself yields with the slow motion of solidity, and unless you are agile as it closes in the rear, thrusts you forward like a strong gale.

The apartment is large and lofty: there is room for a crowd, but at present there is no one at the counter.

It is long enough and broad enough for the business of twenty customers at once; so broad that the clerks on the other side are beyond arm's reach.