An old man with a tangled beard was leaning over some iron and doing something, while muttering senseless words in French; and as always in that nightmare (this was what made it terrible) she felt this peasant was paying no attention to her but was doing something dreadful to her with the iron.
Un vecchietto con la barba arruffata faceva qualcosa, chino su di un ferro, mentre diceva delle parole francesi senza senso, e lei come sempre in quell’incubo (ciò che ne formava proprio l’orrore), sentiva che quel vecchio non faceva nessun caso a lei.