nothing could be distinguished of her, and she was but a little
shapeless mass.

He passed over the three steps; and having reached the threshold,
stopped.

No candle was burning in the caravan, probably from the economy of want.
The hut was lighted only by a red tinge, arising from the opening at the
top of the stove, in which sparkled a peat fire. On the stove were
smoking a porringer and a saucepan, containing to all appearance
something to eat. The savoury odour was perceptible. The hut was
furnished with a chest, a stool, and an unlighted lantern which hung
from the ceiling. Besides, to the partition were attached some boards on
brackets and some hooks, from which hung a variety of things. On the
boards and nails were rows of glasses, coppers, an alembic, a vessel
rather like those used for graining wax, which are called granulators,
and a confusion of strange objects of which the child understood
nothing, and which were utensils for cooking and chemistry. The caravan
was oblong in shape, the stove being in front. It was not even a little
room; it was scarcely a big box. There was more light outside from the
snow than inside from the stove. Everything in the caravan was
indistinct and misty. Nevertheless, a reflection of the fire on the
ceiling enabled the spectator to read in large letters,--

URSUS, PHILOSOPHER.

The child, in fact, was entering the house of Homo and Ursus. The one he
had just heard growling, the other speaking.

The child having reached the threshold, perceived near the stove a man,