e in the place; he would end by turning him out into the street.
Up till then he had tolerated the youngster without all that fuss. On
the morrow he talked of his dignity. Three days after, he kept kicking
the little fellow, morning and evening, so much so that the child,
whenever he heard him coming, bolted into the Goujets' where the old
lace-mender kept a corner of the table clear for him to do his lessons.

Gervaise had for some time past, returned to work. She no longer had the
trouble of looking under the glass cover of the clock; all the savings
were gone; and she had to work hard, work for four, for there were
four to feed now. She alone maintained them. Whenever she heard people
pitying her, she at once found excuses for Coupeau. Recollect! He had
suffered so much; it was not surprising if his disposition had soured!
But it would pass off when his health returned. And if any one hinted
that Coupeau seemed all right again, that he could very well return to
work, she protested: No, no; not yet! She did not want to see him take
to his bed again. They would allow her to know best what the doctor
said, perhaps! It was she who prevented him returning to work, telling
him every morning to take his time and not to force himself. She even
slipped twenty sou pieces into his waistcoat pocket. Coupeau accepted
this as something perfectly natural. He was always complaining of aches
and pains so that she would coddle him. At the end of six months he was
still convalescing.

Now, whenever he went to watch others working, he was always ready to
join his comrades in downing a shot. It wasn't so bad, after all.
They had their fun, and they never stayed more than five minutes. That
couldn't hurt anybody. Only a hypocrite would say he went in because he
wanted a drink. No wonder they had laughed at him in the past. A glass
of wine never hurt anybody. He only drank wine though, never brandy.
Wine never made you sick, didn't get you drunk, and helped you to live
longer. Soon though, several times, after a day of idleness in going
from one building job to another, he came home half drunk. On those
occasions Gervaise pretended to have a terrible headache and kept
their door closed so that the Goujets wouldn't hear Coupeau's drunken
babblings.

Little by little, the young woman lost her cheerfulness. Morning and
evening she went to the Rue de la Goutte-d'Or to look at the shop,
which was still to be let; and she would hide herself as