There were no vacancies, so they moved on. Plumeaux had been optimistic, but then that was, Claude sensed, in his nature. Rejection only slightly eroded the hack's confidence as they went from one house to the next, looking for a room to let. They circled the squares around the printing district and then circled the quarter and went on to perform other geometric and house-hunting impossibilities. They called in at a wineshop, where lamplighters were taking a break from their rounds. Claude received a succession of unhelpful comments on the difficulty of finding a place to sleep. It was well past midnight when lodging was finally obtained. He had just about given up hope when Plumeaux noticed a woman across from the St.-Severin church sweeping the entrance of a stone-fronted building. Conversation revealed that a journeyman joiner on the third floor had left the day before. His lodgings were available, but the price was too dear. Despair returned, until the sweeper said it came with attic space.
