A carpet was spread on the steps beneath the great awning over the front
door in the court, and the moment you entered the hall you were greeted
by a perfume as of violets and a soft, warm atmosphere which thick
hangings helped to produce. A window, whose yellow-and rose-colored
panes suggested the warm pallor of human flesh, gave light to the wide
staircase, at the foot of which a Negro in carved wood held out a silver
tray full of visiting cards and four white marble women, with bosoms
displayed, raised lamps in their uplifted hands. Bronzes and Chinese
vases full of flowers, divans covered with old Persian rugs, armchairs
upholstered in old tapestry, furnished the entrance hall, adorned
the stairheads and gave the first-floor landing the appearance of an
anteroom. Here men's overcoats and hats were always in evidence, and
there were thick hangings which deadened every sound. It seemed a place
apart: on entering it you might have fancied yourself in a chapel, whose
very air was thrilling with devotion, whose very silence and seclusion
were fraught with mystery.
Nana only opened the large and somewhat too-sumptuous Louis XVI drawing
room on those gala nights when she received society from the Tuileries
or strangers of distinction.
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