82
last stage of consumption. She was in fact a mere skeleton, and still—had it not been for the mask of chalk and red with which her face was covered—traces of a former beauty might still have been discerned in her; seeing her now, anyone not inured to such sights could not but feel a sense of the deepest pity.
"The second was red-haired, gaunt, pockmarked, goggle-eyed and repulsive.
"The third: old, short, squat and obese; quite a bladder of fat. She went by the name of the cantinière.
"The first was dresssed in grass-green, or prassino; the red-haired strumpet wore a robe which once must have been blue; the old slut was clad in yellow.
"All these dresses, however, were stained and very much the worse for wear. Besides, some slimy viscid fluid which had left large spots everywhere, made them seem as if all the snails of Burgundy had been crawling over them.
"I managed to get rid of the two younger ones, but I was not so successful with the cantinière.
