l-clear music in time with the throbbing
of her pulse. She had the feeling that this hammering was driving
something deep inside of her, something solid, something hard as the
iron of the bolt.

She had no doubt Goujet would win. Salted-Mouth, otherwise
Drink-without-Thirst, was much too ugly in his dirty tunic, jumping
around like a monkey that had escaped from a zoo. She waited, blushing
red, happy that the heat could explain the blush.

Goujet was still counting.

"And twenty-eight!" cried he at length, laying the hammer on the ground.
"It's finished; you can look."

The head of the bolt was clean, polished, and without a flaw, regular
goldsmith's work, with the roundness of a marble cast in a mold. The
other men looked at it and nodded their heads; there was no denying
it was lovely enough to be worshipped. Salted-Mouth, otherwise
Drink-without-Thirst, tried indeed to chuff; but it was no use, and
ended by returning to his anvil, with his nose put out of joint.
Gervaise had squeezed up against Goujet, as though to get a better view.
Etienne having let go the bellows, the forge was once more becoming
enveloped in shadow, like a brilliant red sunset suddenly giving way to
black night. And the blacksmith and the laundress experienced a sweet
pleasure in feeling this gloom surround them in that shed black with
soot and filings, and where an odor of old iron prevailed. They could
not have thought themselves more alone in the Bois de Vincennes had they
met there in the depths of some copse. He took her hand as though he had
conquered her.

Outside, they scarcely exchanged a word. All he could find to say was
that she might have taken Etienne away with her, had it not been that
there was still another half-hour's work to get through. When she
started away he called her back, wanting a few more minutes with her.

"Come along. You haven't seen all the place. It's quite interesting."

He led her to another shed where the owner was installing a new machine.
She hesitated in the doorway, oppressed by an instinctive dread. The
great hall was vibrating from the machines and black shadows filled the
air. He reassured her with a smile, swearing that there was nothing to
fear, only she should be careful not to let her skirts get caught in any
of the gears. He went first and she followed into the deafening hubbub
of whistling, amid clouds of steam peopled by human shadows moving
busily.

The passages were very narrow and th