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Updated: May 26, 2025
As for Madame Boche and mother Coupeau, they were right at the end of the table, looking after the children, cutting up their meat and giving them something to drink, but not much wine. "Does nobody say grace?" asked Boche, whilst the ladies arranged their skirts under the table-cloth, so as not to get them stained. But Madame Lorilleux paid no attention to such pleasantries.
Tiny drops bedewed the waxed forehead of Lorilleux himself, while Mme Lorilleux threw off her sack and stood in bare arms and chemise half slipped off. "And the gold?" asked Gervaise softly. Her eager eyes searched the corners, hoping to discover amid all the dirt something of the splendor of which she had dreamed. But Coupeau laughed. "Gold?" he said. "Look!
Besides, it would be full of interest for those persons who had never been higher than a cow pasture. "Do you think Clump-clump will venture inside there with her leg all out of place?" murmured Madame Lorilleux. "I'll go up with pleasure," said Madame Lerat, "but I won't have any men walking behind me." And the whole party ascended.
"Do hold your tongue," said Lorilleux; "this is no time for such talk. Be off with you!" The clock struck ten. The friends and neighbors had assembled in the shop while the family were in the back room, nervous and feverish with suspense. Four men appeared the undertaker, Bazonge and his three assistants placed the body in the coffin.
Mother Coupeau's candle had again gone out; and as, in the obscurity, the dull trickling sound recommenced, Madame Lorilleux gave the explanation of it anew in a loud voice, so as to reassure herself: "She's emptying," repeated she, lighting another candle. The funeral was to take place at half-past ten. A nice morning to add to the night and the day before!
Gervaise and the two sisters arranged themselves by the stove where they huddled together close to the warmth, talking quietly. Coupeau was still snoring. Madame Lorilleux was complaining that she didn't have a black dress and asked Gervaise about the black skirt they had given mother Coupeau on her saint's day. Gervaise went to look for it.
"No one has asked a blessing," said Boche as the ladies pulled the tablecloth well over their skirts to protect them from spots. But Mme Lorilleux frowned at this poor jest. The vermicelli soup, which was cold and greasy, was eaten with noisy haste. Two garcons served them, wearing aprons of a very doubtful white and greasy vests.
He consequently, after taking Claude and Etienne to Mlle Boche, who promised to appear with them at dinner, ran to his brother-in-law and borrowed ten francs; he did it with reluctance, and the words stuck in his throat, for he half expected a refusal. Lorilleux grumbled and growled but finally lent the money. But Coupeau heard his sister mutter under her breath, "That is a good beginning."
It is a great pity that one can't kill one's self when one begins to grow old." "Really," said Lorilleux, "I cannot see why the government does not do something for people in your condition. Men who are disabled " "But workmen are not soldiers," interrupted Poisson, who considered it his duty to espouse the cause of the government. "It is foolish to expect them to do impossibilities."
And it was in the first shower that Mme Lorilleux arrived, out of temper and out of breath, struggling with her umbrella, which she could not close. "I had ten minds," she exclaimed, "to turn back. I wanted you to wait until next Saturday. I knew it would rain today I was certain of it!" Coupeau tried to calm her, but she quickly snubbed him.
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