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Since her niece's magnificent elevation Mme Lerat had been puffed up with vanity. She rarely presented herself in the Avenue de Villiers, for she was pleased to remark that it wasn't her place to do so, but she enjoyed triumphs in her own street.
"No, I swear to you I don't," said Muffat, dreading a scene. "And you believe she's really a stick?" He bowed his head in the affirmative. "And that's why you love me? Answer me! I shan't be angry." He repeated the same movement. "Very well then," she concluded. "I suspected as much! Oh, the poor pet. Do you know my aunt Lerat?
After all, it was a simple thing enough he should just tear it to pieces. There was a cry of dismay. Mme Lerat had an inspiration. "Monsieur Poisson is the man," she said; "of course he understands the use of arms." And she handed the sergeant the carving knife. Poisson made a stiff inclination of his whole body and drew the dish toward him and went to work in a slow, methodical fashion.
The fact of the matter was that Mme Lerat was beginning to feel anxious at the painful way her niece doled out the sparse, occasional francs destined to pay for little Louis's board and lodging.
As Fontan had not yet come home, the old lady ventured to give expression to her fears, for she trembled to see her niece renouncing the chance of wealth. "Oh, Aunt, I love him so dearly!" cried Nana, pressing her hands to her heart with the prettiest of gestures. This phrase produced an extraordinary effect on Mme Lerat, and tears came into her eyes.
He was ignorant of his wife's infidelity, at least, so all his friends declared. They believed, moreover, that were he to discover it there would be great trouble. But Mme Lerat, his own sister, shook her head doubtfully, averring that she was not so sure of his ignorance. Lantier was also in good health and spirits, neither too stout nor too thin.
Gervaise was greatly disappointed, but she had no time to say much just then: she was beginning to be anxious about Coupeau he ought to be in then, too, where were the Lorilleuxs? She called Mme Lerat, who had arranged the reconciliation, and bade her go and see. Mme Lerat put on her hat and shawl with excessive care and departed. A solemn hush of expectation pervaded the room.
Charras assuredly would not have hesitated. We have already mentioned the names of these police rascals. It is useless to repeat them. It was Courtille who arrested Charras, Lerat who arrested Changarnier, Desgranges who arrested Nadaud.
Then she would fawn on her aunt all day, hoping to soften her and keep her from telling. Madame Lerat understood what it was to be young and would lie to the Coupeaus, but she also lectured Nana, stressing the dangers a young girl runs on the streets of Paris. Mon Dieu! she herself was followed often enough! "Oh! I watch, you needn't fear," said the widow to the Coupeaus.
The other two women did not seem at all surprised. "Of course!" murmured Madame Lorilleux, "it probably began the very first night. But as it pleases Coupeau, we've no business to interfere. All the same, it's not very respectable." "As for me," declared Madame Lerat through clenched teeth, "if I'd been there, I'd have thrown a fright into them. I'd have shouted something, anything.
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