The furniture comprised but the commonest necessities.

This attic of the Ansells was nearer heaven than most earthly dwelling places, for there were four tall flights of stairs to mount before you got to it.No.1 Royal Street had been in its time one of the great mansions of the Ghetto; pillars of the synagogue had quaffed _kosher_ wine in its spacious reception rooms and its corridors had echoed with the gossip of portly dames in stiff brocades.
It was stoutly built and its balusters were of carved oak.

But now the threshold of the great street door, which was never closed, was encrusted with black mud, and a musty odor permanently clung to the wide staircase and blent subtly with far-away reminiscences of Mr.
Belcovitch's festive turpentine.

The Ansells had numerous housemates, for No.

1 Royal Street was a Jewish colony in itself and the resident population was periodically swollen by the "hands" of the Belcovitches and by the "Sons of the Covenant," who came to worship at their synagogue on the ground floor.