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Updated: May 26, 2025
They sat down, Henriette between Claude and Mahoudeau, Sandoz with Mathilde and Christine beside him, Jory and Gagniere at either end; and the servant had barely finished serving the soup, when Madame Jory made a most unfortunate remark.
And the girl having brought the toast, she distributed two slices to each of them, and was beginning to ladle the bouillabaisse into the plates, when the door opened once more. 'Fagerolles at last! she said. 'I have given your seat to Mahoudeau. Sit down there, next to Claude. He apologised with an air of courtly politeness, by alleging a business appointment.
Behind the brown serge hangings the staff of the establishment was lunching one could hear a grinding of jaws and husky laughter, a rumpus akin to that of a camp of gipsies devouring the contents of their saucepans. Claude and Sandoz went round the garden, where they discovered a statue by Mahoudeau, very badly placed in a corner near the eastern vestibule.
While the others went on discussing the subject, Gagniere drew Mahoudeau to the open window, where, in a low voice, his eyes the while staring into space, he murmured: 'Oh, it's nothing at all, only four bars; a simple impression jotted down there and then. But what a deal there is in it!
And he often did not dare to chance a bright dash of colour, but painted in a greyish gloomy key which was astonishing, when one remembered his revolutionary passions. 'For my part, said Mahoudeau, 'I feel delighted at the prospect of making them squint with my woman. Claude shrugged his shoulders. 'Oh! you'll get in, the sculptors have broader minds than the painters.
And when she had agreed with everything Claude said, he always came back with nervous laughter to the same story which he thought exceedingly comical the story of Mahoudeau and Chaine, who, between them, had killed little Jabouille, the husband of Mathilde, that dreadful herbalist woman.
And Mahoudeau purposely exaggerated his intentional roughness, and clasped his hands like an ogre kneading human flesh; while Gagniere, in ecstasy, as if freed from the everlasting greyishness of his art, sought to refine sensation to the utmost limits of intelligence; and Dubuche, with his matter-of-fact convictions, threw in but a word here and there; words, however, which were like club-blows in the very midst of the fray.
The poor fellow who had wished to conquer it, and had broken his neck in his fruitless efforts, now passed in front of it, nailed under an oaken board, returning to the earth like one of the city's muddy waves. On leaving the church the female cousin disappeared, Mahoudeau likewise; while the second cousin again took his position behind the hearse.
After all, there was no need for so much talk in life, people managed to understand one another all the same. While filling the stove, Mahoudeau continued to relieve his mind. 'Well, you may believe me if you like, but when a fellow's almost starving it isn't disagreeable to keep quiet. Yes, one gets numb amidst silence; it's like an inside coating that stills the gnawing of the stomach a bit.
The question of witnesses embarrassed them for a moment. As she was absolutely unacquainted with anybody, he selected Sandoz and Mahoudeau to act for her. For a moment he had thought of replacing the latter by Dubuche, but he never saw the architect now, and he feared to compromise him. He, Claude, would be content with Jory and Gagniere.
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