Denise, however, had not come down with the other young ladies at eight o'clock. Confined to her room for the last five days by a sprained⁴ ankle, caused when going up stairs to the work-rooms, she was going on much better; but, sure of Madame Aurélie's indulgence, she did not hurry down, and sat putting her boots on with difficulty, resolved, however, to show herself in the department. The young ladies' bed-rooms now occupied the entire fifth storey of the new buildings, along the Rue⁵ Monsigny; there were sixty of them, on either side of a corridor, and they were much more comfortable than formerly⁶, although still furnished with the iron bedstead, large wardrobe, and little mahogany toilet-table. The private life of the saleswomen became more refined and elegant there, they displayed a taste for scented⁷ soap and fine linen⁸, quite a natural ascent⁹ towards middle-class ways as their positions improved, although high words and banging doors were still sometimes heard amidst the hôtel-like gust¹ that carried them away, morning and evening. Denise, being second-hand¹⁰ in her department, had one of the largest rooms, the two attic¹¹ windows of which looked into the street. Being much better off now, she indulged in several little luxuries, a red eider-down coverlet for the bed, covered with Maltese lace, a small carpet in front of the wardrobe, and two blue-glass vases containing a few faded roses on the toilet table.

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