Discoloured

We picked our way among groups of dirty children, and through lines of discoloured linen, until we came to Number 46, the door of which was decorated with a small slip of brass on which the name Rance was engraved.

The cracked glass that had not been repaired for years, the window frames whose paint had begun to fade in the sun, the curtains discoloured by the dirt, and the damp stains on the ceiling were obvious even before you entered the devastated interior.

It was a boy dressed in ragged velveteen breeches, and thin discoloured shirt.