'I understand, Jacques. For you, I would serve as mort-aux-rats and would do it for free. But these – ' he made a flicking gesture at a man in an excellent wig who was trying to call him over to a shop. The man looked crestfallen – temporarily. But then St.-George softened, and moved in the direction of a narrow doorway – more hatch than door – set into the wall of this wig-maker's shop, next to his open shop-window. This suddenly burst open, and a round-bodied five-foot-tall man with a vigorous moustache and curly-toed slippers emerged from a stairway no wider than he was, preceded by a smoking and steaming apparatus of hammered copper that was strapped to his body.