aid, looking down at the ground.
"We'll go live somewhere else, in Belgium, if you wish. With both of us
working, we would soon be very comfortable."

Gervaise flushed. She thought she would have felt less shame if he
had taken her in his arms and kissed her. Goujet was an odd fellow,
proposing to elope, just the way it happens in novels. Well, she had
seen plenty of workingmen making up to married women, but they never
took them even as far as Saint-Denis.

"Ah, Monsieur Goujet," she murmured, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't you see?" he said. "There would only be the two of us. It annoys
me having others around."

Having regained her self-possession, however, she refused his proposal.

"It's impossible, Monsieur Goujet. It would be very wrong. I'm a married
woman and I have children. We'd soon regret it. I know you care for me,
and I care for you also, too much to let you do anything foolish. It's
much better to stay just as we are. We have respect for each other and
that's a lot. It's been a comfort to me many times. When people in our
situation stay on the straight, it is better in the end."

He nodded his head as he listened. He agreed with her and was unable
to offer any arguments. Suddenly he pulled her into his arms and kissed
her, crushing her. Then he let her go and said nothing more about their
love. She wasn't angry. She felt they had earned that small moment of
pleasure.

Goujet now didn't know what to do with his hands, so he went around
picking dandelions and tossing them into her basket. This amused him and
gradually soothed him. Gervaise was becoming relaxed and cheerful. When
they finally left the vacant lot they walked side by side and talked
of how much Etienne liked being at Lille. Her basket was full of yellow
dandelions.

Gervaise, at heart, did not feel as courageous when with Lantier as she
said. She was, indeed, perfectly resolved not to hear his flattery, even
with the slightest interest; but she was afraid, if ever he should touch
her, of her old cowardice, of that feebleness and gloominess into which
she allowed herself to glide, just to please people. Lantier, however,
did not avow his affection. He several times found himself alone with
her and kept quiet. He seemed to think of marrying the tripe-seller, a
woman of forty-five and very well preserved. Gervaise would talk of the
tripe-seller in Goujet's presence, so as to set his mind at ease. She
would say to Virginie and Mad