Upon this corridor opened the bedrooms, in which, until very late in
the afternoon, dirty socks and torn slippers were usually seen strewn
upon the floor, while on the unmade beds lay collars and cuffs.
Almost all the boarders in that house got up late, except two
travelling salesmen, a bookkeeper and a priest, who arose early
through love of their occupations, and an old gentleman who did so
through habit or for reasons of hygiene.
The bookkeeper would be off, without breakfast, at eight in the
morning; the priest left _in albis_ to say mass; but the salesmen
had the audacious presumption to eat a bite in the house, and the
landlady resorted to a very simple procedure to send them off without
so much as a sip of water; these two agents began work between
half-past nine and ten; they retired very late, bidding their landlady
wake them at eight-thirty. She would see to it that they were not
aroused until ten. When they awoke and saw the time, they would jump
out of bed, hurriedly dress and dash off like a shot, cursing the
landlady. Then, when the feminine element of the house gave signs of
life, every nook would echo with cries, discordant voices,
conversations shouted from one bedchamber to another, and out of the
rooms, their hands armed with the night-service, would come the
landlady, one of Dona Violante's daughters, a tall, obese Biscayan
Lady, and another woman whom they called the Baroness.
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