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When the signatures were again affixed to the register in the vestry and the party stood outside in the sunshine, they had a sensation as if they had been driven at full speed and were glad to rest. "I feel as if I had been at the dentist's. We had no time to cry out before it was all over!" "Yes," muttered Lorilleux, "they take less than five minutes to do what can't be undone in all one's life!
But Madame Lorilleux broke out in a fury. "Well! I refuse, yes, I refuse! It's not for the thirty francs. I'd give a hundred thousand, if I had them, and if it would bring mamma to life again. Only, I don't like vain people. You've got a shop, you only dream of showing off before the neighborhood. We don't fall in with it, we don't. We don't try to make ourselves out what we are not.
When she had entered Lorilleux also stopped at the threshold and he likewise waited to be embraced before penetrating into the shop. Neither the one nor the other had brought a bouquet. They had decided not to do so as they thought it would look too much like giving way to Clump-Clump if they carried flowers with them the first time they set foot in her home.
He lingered a moment, hoping for a word or an allusion. Suddenly he decided to begin the subject himself. "We rely on you, Lorilleux. You will be my wife's witness," he said. The man lifted his head in affected surprise, while his wife stood still in the center of the workshop.
The Lorilleuxs shrugged their shoulders as the door closed. They hoped they had seen the last of her face. She had brought all her misfortunes on her own head, and she had, therefore, no right to expect any assistance from them. Boche joined in these animadversions, and all three considered themselves avenged for the blue shop and all the rest. "I know her!" said Mme Lorilleux.
She saw Mme Lorilleux, a small, dark woman, agile and strong, drawing with all the vigor of her arms assisted by a pair of pincers a thread of black metal, which she passed through the holes of a drawplate held by the vice. Before the desk or table in front of the window sat Lorilleux, as short as his wife, but with broader shoulders.
She had ended by showing everything she had and then been so sick that she had completely ruined one of the muslin curtains. The men had at least the decency to go into the street; Lorilleux and Poisson, feeling their stomachs upset, had stumblingly glided as far as the pork-butcher's shop. It is easy to see when a person has been well brought up.
Really though, he felt the need of fresh air, and so he took his time, smoking cigarettes and enjoying the morning air. When he left Madame Lerat's house, he went into a dairy place on Les Batignolles for a cup of hot coffee and remained there an hour, thinking things over. Towards nine o'clock the family were all united in the shop, the shutters of which were kept up. Lorilleux did not cry.
The Lorilleux were furious enough to explode, especially since Madame Lerat was now back on good terms with the Coupeaus. One day the two sisters, the flower-maker and the chainmaker came to blows about Gervaise because Madame Lerat dared to express approval of the way she was taking care of their mother.
Not one of the guests suggested the smallest doubt. They had now arrived at dessert and the waiters were clearing the table with much clattering of dishes. Madame Lorilleux, who up to then had been very genteel, very much the lady, suddenly let fly with a curse. One of the waiters had spilled something wet down her neck while removing a dish. This time her silk dress would be stained for sure.
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