To the door of this, the twelfth house whose bell he had rung, came a housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome, surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hallow shell and now sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodgers.

• 到这幢门口他已经按过十二幢房子的门铃了。一个收租婆出来应门，他一看见她就联想起一个可厌的贪婪的蠹虫，把胡桃蛀了，只剩下个空壳，现在打算找些有油水的房客来填空儿。