that scuttle. Besides the bed on which the Lady of Shalott lay, there
was a stove in the palace, two chairs, a very ragged rag-mat, a shelf
with two notched cups and plates upon it, one pewter teaspoon, and a
looking-glass. On washing-days Sary Jane climbed upon the chair and hung
her clothes out through the scuttle on the roof; or else she ran a
little rope from one of the windows to the other for a drying-rope. It
would have been more exact to have said on washing-nights; for Sary Jane
always did her washing after dark. The reason was evident. If the rest
of us were in the habit of wearing all the clothes we had, like Sary
Jane, I have little doubt that we should do the same.

I should mention that there was no sink in the Lady of Shalott's palace;
no water. There was a dirty hydrant in the yard, four flights below,
which supplied the Lady of Shalott and all her neighbors. The Lady of
Shalott kept her coal under the bed; her flour, a pound at a time, in a
paper parcel, on the shelf, with the teacups and the pewter spoon. If
she had anything else to keep, it went out through the palace scuttle
and lay on the roof. The Lady of Shalott's palace opened directly upon a
precipice. The lessor of the house called it a flight of stairs. When
Sary Jane went up and down she went sidewise to preserve her balance.
There were no bannisters to the precipice, and about once a week a baby
patronized the rat-trap, instead. Once, when there was a fire-alarm, the
precipice was very serviceable. Four women and an old man went over.
With one exception (she was eighteen, and could bear a broken
collar-bone), they will not, I am informed, go over again.

The Lady of Shalott paid one dollar a week for the rent of her palace.

But then there was a looking-glass in the palace. I think I noticed it.
It hung on the slope of the rafters, just opposite the Lady of Shalott's