d of the rump, and
was sucking it with her lips, whilst she wriggled with laughter on her
chair because Boche was whispering all sorts of smutty things to her.
Ah, by Jove! Yes, there was a dinner! When one's at it, one's at it, you
know; and if one only has the chance now and then, one would be precious
stupid not to stuff oneself up to one's ears. Really, one could see
their sides puff out by degrees. They were cracking in their skins, the
blessed gormandizers! With their mouths open, their chins besmeared with
grease, they had such bloated red faces that one would have said they
were bursting with prosperity.

As for the wine, well, that was flowing as freely around the table
as water flows in the Seine. It was like a brook overflowing after a
rainstorm when the soil is parched. Coupeau raised the bottle high when
pouring to see the red jet foam in the glass. Whenever he emptied a
bottle, he would turn it upside down and shake it. One more dead solder!
In a corner of the laundry the pile of dead soldiers grew larger and
larger, a veritable cemetery of bottles onto which other debris from the
table was tossed.

Coupeau became indignant when Madame Putois asked for water. He took all
the water pitchers from the table. Do respectable citizens ever drink
water? Did she want to grow frogs in her stomach?

Many glasses were emptied at one gulp. You could hear the liquid
gurgling its way down the throats like rainwater in a drainpipe after a
storm. One might say it was raining wine. _Mon Dieu!_ the juice of the
grape was a remarkable invention. Surely the workingman couldn't get
along without his wine. Papa Noah must have planted his grapevine for
the benefit of zinc-workers, tailors and blacksmiths. It brightened you
up and refreshed you after a hard day's work.

Coupeau was in a high mood. He proclaimed that all the ladies present
were very cute, and jingled the three sous in his pocket as if they had
been five-franc pieces.

Even Goujet, who was ordinarily very sober, had taken plenty of wine.
Boche's eyes were narrowing, those of Lorilleux were paling, and Poisson
was developing expressions of stern severity on his soldierly face.
All the men were as drunk as lords and the ladies had reached a certain
point also, feeling so warm that they had to loosen their clothes. Only
Clemence carried this a bit too far.

Suddenly Gervaise recollected the six sealed bottles of wine. She had
forgotten to put them on the table