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Above her was a clerk in the Ministry of the Interior, with his wife and two or three children; above them again the Cervins, and a couple of commercial travellers, and so on. The street outside, in its general aspect, suggested the same small, hard-pressed professional life.
At last there came a morning when Louie came out early from the Cervins' door, shut it behind her, and ran up the ladder-like stairs which led to David's room. 'David! Her voice was pitched in no amiable key, as she violently shook the handle of the door. But, call and shake as she might, there was no answer, and after a while she paused, feeling a certain bewilderment. 'It is ridiculous!
'I should have done just the same if it had been "no," she said, laughing. 'Allons, he amuses me, and I do him no harm. When I go back to work he can do his business. He has done none yet. He will forget me and make some money. She paced up and down the studio thinking again. She was conscious of some remorse for her part in sending the Englishman's sister to the Cervins.
She had taken up her abode with the Cervins. A certain anxiety and discomfort seized him; before going out to the Boulevard to snatch some food in preparation for his evening at the 'Trois Rats' he descended to the landing below and rang the Cervins' bell. A charwoman, dirty and tired with much cleaning, opened to him. No, Madame was not at home. No one was at home, and the dinner was spoiling.
All the morning she dragged Madame Cervin about the Paris streets: in the afternoon she would sometimes pose for Montjoie, and sometimes not; he had to bring her bonbons and theatre tickets to bribe her, and learn new English wherewith to flatter her. Then in the evenings she made the Cervins take her to theatres and various entertainments more or less reputable, for which of course David paid.
He did well to keep his distance. What do the Cervins want with him? The others shrugged their shoulders. 'They say his Maenad would be magnificent if he could keep sober enough to finish her, said Lenain; 'it is his last chance; he will go under altogether if he fails; he is almost done for already. 'And what a gift! said Alphonse, in a lofty tone of critical regret.
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