As a general rule, such places are clean and decently
kept, and the sight of a drunken man in the public room would excite very
considerable astonishment, besides entailing upon the culprit a summary
expulsion into the street and a rather forcible injunction not to repeat
the offence.
The four windows of the establishment which opened upon the narrow street
were open, for the weather had become sultry even out of doors, and the
guests wanted fresh air. At one of these windows the Count saw the heads
of Dumnoff and Schmidt. With the instinct of the poor man, the Count felt
in his pocket to see whether he had any money, and was somewhat disturbed
to find but a solitary piece of silver, feebly supported on either side by
a couple of one-penny pieces. He had forgotten that he had refused to
accept his pay for the day's work, and it required an effort of memory to
account for the low state of his funds. But what he had with him was
sufficient for his wants, and settling his parcel under his arm he
ascended the three or four steps which gave access to the inn, and entered
the public room. Besides the Russian and the Cossack, there were three
public porters seated at the next table, dressed in their blue blouses,
their red cloth caps hanging on the pegs over their heads, all silent and
similarly engaged. Each had before him a piece of that national cheese of
which the smell may almost be heard, each had lately received a thick,
irregularly-shaped hunch of dark bread, and they had one pot of beer and
one salt-cellar amongst them.
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