is
black trousers all stained with mud, his black cape hooked on to his
shoulder, and his black feather hat knocked in by some tumble he had
taken.

"Don't be afraid, he's harmless," continued Lorilleux. "He's a neighbor
of ours--the third room in the passage before us. He would find himself
in a nice mess if his people were to see him like this!"

Old Bazouge, however, felt offended at the young woman's evident terror.

"Well, what!" hiccoughed he, "we ain't going to eat any one. I'm as
good as another any day, my little woman. No doubt I've had a drop!
When work's plentiful one must grease the wheels. It's not you, nor your
friends, who would have carried down the stiff 'un of forty-seven stone
whom I and a pal brought from the fourth floor to the pavement, and
without smashing him too. I like jolly people."

But Gervaise retreated further into the doorway, seized with a longing
to cry, which spoilt her day of sober-minded joy. She no longer thought
of kissing her sister-in-law, she implored Coupeau to get rid of
the drunkard. Then Bazouge, as he stumbled about, made a gesture of
philosophical disdain.

"That won't prevent you passing though our hands, my little woman.
You'll perhaps be glad to do so, one of these days. Yes, I know some
women who'd be much obliged if we did carry them off."

And, as Lorilleux led him away, he turned around, and stuttered out a
last sentence, between two hiccoughs.

"When you're dead--listen to this--when you're dead, it's for a long,
long time."

CHAPTER IV.

Then followed four years of hard work. In the neighborhood, Gervaise and
Coupeau had the reputation of being a happy couple, living in retirement
without quarrels, and taking a short walk regularly every Sunday in
the direction of St. Ouen. The wife worked twelve hours a day at Madame
Fauconnier's, and still found means to keep their lodging as clean and
bright as a new coined sou and to prepare the meals for all her little
family, morning and evening. The husband never got drunk, brought his
wages home every fortnight, and smoked a pipe at his window in the
evening, to get a breath of fresh air before going to bed. They were
frequently alluded to on account of their nice, pleasant ways; and as
between them they earned close upon nine francs a day, it was reckoned
that they were able to put by a good deal of money.

However, during their first months together they had to struggle hard to
get by. Their wedding had