After this matutinal ceremony, and not infrequently during the same, complaints, disputes, gossip and strife would arise, providing tid-bits for the remaining hours.
On the day following the scrape between the landlady and Irene, when the latter returned to her room after having fulfilled her mission, a secret conclave was held by those who remained.
"Don't you know? Didn't you hear anything last night?" asked the
Biscayan.
"No," replied the landlady and the Baroness. "What happened?"
"Irene smuggled a man into the house last night."
"She did?"
"I heard her talking to him myself."
"And he must have opened the street door! The dog!" muttered the landlady.
"No; the man came from this tenement."
"One of the students from upstairs," offered the Baroness.