Jalousie; noun; a blind with adjustable horizontal slats for admitting light and air while excluding direct sun and rain.

From “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner- “And as soon as the old people said, “Poor Emily,” the whispering began. “Do you suppose it’s really so?” they said to one another. “Of course it is. What else could..” This behind their hands; rustling of craned silk and satin behind jalousies closed upon the sun of Sunday afternoon as the thin, swift clop-clop-clop of the matched team passed: “Poor Emily.”

After searching this word, what I came to understand is that it is used to imply that the people of the town talked behind Emily’s back. They said “poor emily” behind closed blinds, not to talk about her in public.