Q: You are given an English sentence with a blank, and you need to predict the missing word. After completing, the whole sentence should be gramatically correct and non-ambiguous.
for the last month this wretched house had presented the gloomy appearance of a lazaretto infected with the plague some of the apartments were closed within and without ____ shutters were only opened to admit a minute's air showing the scared face of a footman
A:
the