ine was
not enough; he deserved to be cut into little pieces. The story of an
infanticide equally aroused their indignation; but the hatter, highly
moral, found excuses for the woman, putting all the wrong on the back
of her husband; for after all, if some beast of a man had not put the
wretched woman into the way of bleak poverty, she could not have drowned
it in a water closet.

They were most delighted though by the exploit of a Marquis who, coming
out of a dance hall at two in the morning, had defended himself against
an attack by three blackguards on the Boulevard des Invalides. Without
taking off his gloves, he had disposed of the first two villains by
ramming his head into their stomachs, and then had marched the third one
off to the police. What a man! Too bad he was a noble.

"Listen to this now," continued Lantier. "Here's some society news:
'A marriage is arranged between the eldest daughter of the Countess de
Bretigny and the young Baron de Valancay, aide-de-camp to His Majesty.
The wedding trousseau will contain more than three hundred thousand
francs' worth of lace."

"What's that to us?" interrupted Bibi-the-Smoker. "We don't want to know
the color of her mantle. The girl can have no end of lace; nevertheless
she'll see the folly of loving."

As Lantier seemed about to continue his reading, Salted-Mouth, otherwise
Drink-without-Thirst, took the newspaper from him and sat upon it,
saying:

"Ah! no, that's enough! This is all the paper is good for."

Meanwhile, My-Boots, who had been looking at his hand, triumphantly
banged his fist down on the table. He scored ninety-three.

"I've got the Revolution!" he exulted.

"You're out of luck, comrade," the others told Coupeau.

They ordered two fresh bottles. The glasses were filled up again as fast
as they were emptied, the booze increased. Towards five o'clock it began
to get disgusting, so much so that Lantier kept very quiet, thinking of
how to give the others the slip; brawling and throwing the wine
about was no longer his style. Just then Coupeau stood up to make
the drunkard's sign of the cross. Touching his head he pronounced
Montpernasse, then Menilmonte as he brought his hand to his right
shoulder, Bagnolet giving himself a blow in the chest, and wound up by
saying stewed rabbit three times as he hit himself in the pit of the
stomach. Then the hatter took advantage of the clamor which greeted the
performance of this feat and quietly made for t