to destroy his tranquillity, and he gibed contentedly at having frustrated it.  His experience of women was very slight, nevertheless he endeavoured to draw certain conclusions from the story she had told him, struck as he was at present by certain petty details, and feeling perplexed.  But why, after all, should he worry his brain?  What did it matter whether she had told him the truth or a lie?  In the morning she would go off; there would be an end to it all, and they would never see each other again.  Thus Claude lay cogitating, and it was only towards daybreak, when the stars began to pale, that he fell asleep.  As for the girl behind the screen, in spite of the crushing fatigue of her journey, she continued tossing about uneasily, oppressed by the heaviness of the atmosphere beneath the hot zinc-work of the roof; and doubtless, too, she was rendered nervous by the strangeness of her surroundings.

In the morning, when Claude awoke, his eyes kept blinking.  It was very late, and the sunshine streamed through the large window.  One of his theories was, that young landscape painters should take studios despised by the academical figure painters—­studios which the sun flooded with living beams.  Nevertheless he felt dazzled, and fell back again on his couch.  Why the devil had he been sleeping there?  His eyes, still heavy with sleep, wandered mechanically round the studio, when, all at once, beside the screen he noticed a heap of petticoats.  Then he at once remembered the girl.  He began to listen, and heard a sound of long-drawn, regular breathing, like that of a child comfortably asleep.  Ah! so she was still slumbering, and so calmly, that it would be a pity to disturb her.  He felt dazed and somewhat annoyed at the adventure, however, for it would spoil his morning’s work.  He got angry at his own good nature; it would be better to shake her, so that she might go at once.  Nevertheless he put on his trousers and slippers softly, and walked about on tiptoes.

The cuckoo clock struck nine, and Claude made a gesture of annoyance.  Nothing had stirred; the regular breathing continued.  The best thing to do, he thought, would be to set to work on his large picture; he would see to his breakfast later on, when he was able to move about.  But, after all, he could not make up his mind.  He who lived amid chronic disorder felt worried by that heap of petticoats lying on the floor.  Some water had dripped from them, but they were damp still.  And so, while grumbling in a low tone, he ended by picking them up one by one and spreading them over the chairs in the sunlight.  Had one ever seen the like, clothes thrown about anyhow?  They would never get dry, and she would never go off!  He turned all that feminine apparel over very awkwardly, got entangled with the black dress-body, and went on all fours to pick up the stockings that had fallen behind an old canvas.  They were Balbriggan stockings of a dark grey, long and fine, and he examined them, before hanging them up to dry.  The water oozing from the edge of the dress had soaked them, so he wrung and stretched them with his warm hands, in order that he might be able to send her away the quicker.