"'Where will you sleep?'
"'Oh, we'll find somewhere, don't worry, for the little time we have to kill here.'
"'Yes, we'll find somewhere, all right,' I said. 'Come in again for a minute meanwhile—I won't take no—and Mariette sees us enter once more in single file, all five of us soaked like bread in soup.
"So there we all were, with only one little room to go round in and go round again—the only room in the house, seeing that it isn't a palace.
"'Tell me, madame,' says one of our friends, 'isn't there a cellar here?'
"'There's water in it,' says Mariette; 'you can't see the bottom step and it's only got two.'
"'Damn,' says the man, 'for I see there's no loft, either.'
"After a minute or two he gets up: 'Good-night, old pal,' he says to me, and they get their hats on.
"'What, are you going off in weather like this, boys?'
"'Do you think,' says the old sport, 'that we're going to spoil your stay with your wife?'