ad no
pity for her. In the evening, upset by the continual quarrels which her
son had sought with her, Adelaide had one of those nervous attacks which
kept her as rigid as if she had been dead. The young man threw her on
her bed, and then began to rummage the house to see if the wretched
woman had any savings hidden away. He found about forty francs. He took
possession of them, and, while his mother still lay there, rigid and
scarce able to breathe, he quietly took the diligence to Marseilles.

He had just bethought himself that Mouret, the journeyman hatter who had
married his sister Ursule, must be indignant at Pierre's roguery, and
would no doubt be willing to defend his wife's interests. But he did
not find in him the man he expected. Mouret plainly told him that he had
become accustomed to look upon Ursule as an orphan, and would have no
contentions with her family at any price. Their affairs were prospering.
Antoine was received so coldly that he hastened to take the diligence
home again. But, before leaving, he was anxious to revenge himself for
the secret contempt which he read in the workman's eyes; and, observing
that his sister appeared rather pale and dejected, he said to her
husband, in a slyly cruel way, as he took his departure: "Have a care,
my sister was always sickly, and I find her much changed for the worse;
you may lose her altogether."

The tears which rushed to Mouret's eyes convinced him that he had
touched a sore wound. But then those work-people made too great a
display of their happiness.

When he was back again in Plassans, Antoine became the more menacing
from the conviction that his hands were tied. During a whole month he
was seen all over the place. He paraded the streets, recounting his
story to all who would listen to him. Whenever he succeeded in extorting
a franc from his mother, he would drink it away at some tavern, where he
would revile his brother, declaring that the rascal should shortly hear
from him. In places like these, the good-natured fraternity which reigns
among drunkards procured him a sympathetic audience; all the scum of the
town espoused his cause, and poured forth bitter imprecations against
that rascal Rougon, who left a brave soldier to starve; the discussion
generally terminating with an indiscriminate condemnation of the rich.
Antoine, the better to revenge himself, continued to march about in his
regimental cap and trousers and his old yellow velvet jacket, al