“Good-morning, my child. Are the ladies upstairs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In the parlor?”
“Yes, sir.”
“May I go up?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The door opposite the stairs?”
“Yes, sir.”
He ascended the stairs, opened a door and saw sitting in a room well lighted up by two lamps, a chandelier, and two candelabras with candles in them, four ladies in evening dress, apparently expecting some one.
Three of them, the younger ones, remained seated, with rather a formal air, on some crimson velvet chairs; while the fourth, who was about forty-five, was arranging some flowers in a vase. She was very stout, and wore a green silk dress with low neck and short sleeves, allowing her red neck, covered with powder, to escape as a huge flower might from its corolla.