l. As for the rest, the injured heart, that was nothing.
She knew how to restore a heart with ceaseless care. She was certain of
getting him well and displayed magnificent faith. She stayed close by
him and caressed him gently during the long bouts of fever without a
moment of doubt. She was on her feet continuously for a whole week,
completely absorbed by her determination to save him. She forgot the
street outside, the entire city, and even her own children. On the ninth
day, the doctor finally said that Coupeau would live. Gervaise collapsed
into a chair, her body limp from fatigue. That night she consented to
sleep for two hours with her head against the foot of the bed.

Coupeau's accident had created quite a commotion in the family. Mother
Coupeau passed the nights with Gervaise; but as early as nine o'clock
she fell asleep on a chair. Every evening, on returning from work,
Madame Lerat went a long round out of her way to inquire how her brother
was getting on. At first the Lorilleuxs had called two or three times a
day, offering to sit up and watch, and even bringing an easy-chair for
Gervaise. Then it was not long before there were disputes as to the
proper way to nurse invalids. Madame Lorilleux said that she had saved
enough people's lives to know how to go about it. She accused the young
wife of pushing her aside, of driving her away from her own brother's
bed. Certainly that Clump-clump ought to be concerned about Coupeau's
getting well, for if she hadn't gone to Rue de la Nation to disturb him
at his job, he would never had fallen. Only, the way she was taking care
of him, she would certainly finish him.

When Gervaise saw that Coupeau was out of danger, she ceased guarding
his bedside with so much jealous fierceness. Now, they could no longer
kill him, and she let people approach without mistrust. The family
invaded the room. The convalescence would be a very long one; the doctor
had talked of four months. Then, during the long hours the zinc-worker
slept, the Lorilleux talked of Gervaise as of a fool. She hadn't done
any good by having her husband at home. At the hospital they would have
cured him twice as quickly. Lorilleux would have liked to have been ill,
to have caught no matter what, just to show her that he did not hesitate
for a moment to go to Lariboisiere. Madame Lorilleux knew a lady who
had just come from there. Well! She had had chicken to eat morning and
night.

Again and again the two of