No; we must have a mass, and a hearse with a few
ornaments."

"And who will pay for them?" violently inquired Madame Lorilleux. "Not
we, who lost some money last week; and you either, as you're stumped.
Ah! you ought, however, to see where it has led you, this trying to
impress people!"

Coupeau, when consulted, mumbled something with a gesture of profound
indifference, and then fell asleep again on his chair. Madame Lerat said
that she would pay her share. She was of Gervaise's opinion, they should
do things decently. Then the two of them fell to making calculations
on a piece of paper: in all, it would amount to about ninety francs,
because they decided, after a long discussion, to have a hearse
ornamented with a narrow scallop.

"We're three," concluded the laundress. "We'll give thirty francs each.
It won't ruin us."

But Madame Lorilleux broke out in a fury.

"Well! I refuse, yes, I refuse! It's not for the thirty francs. I'd give
a hundred thousand, if I had them, and if it would bring mamma to life
again. Only, I don't like vain people. You've got a shop, you only dream
of showing off before the neighborhood. We don't fall in with it, we
don't. We don't try to make ourselves out what we are not. Oh! you can
manage it to please yourself. Put plumes on the hearse if it amuses
you."

"No one asks you for anything," Gervaise ended by answering. "Even
though I should have to sell myself, I'll not have anything to reproach
myself with. I've fed mother Coupeau without your help, and I can
certainly bury her without your help also. I already once before gave
you a bit of my mind; I pick up stray cats, I'm not likely to leave your
mother in the mire."

Then Madame Lorilleux burst into tears and Lantier had to prevent her
from leaving. The argument became so noisy that Madame Lerat felt she
had to go quietly into the little room and glance tearfully at her dead
mother, as though fearing to find her awake and listening. Just at this
moment the girls playing in the courtyard, led by Nana, began singing
again.

"_Mon Dieu!_ how those children grate on one's nerves with their
singing!" said Gervaise, all upset and on the point of sobbing with
impatience and sadness. Turning to the hatter, she said:

"Do please make them leave off, and send Nana back to the concierge's
with a kick."

Madame Lerat and Madame Lorilleux went away to eat lunch, promising
to return. The Coupeaus sat down to eat a bite without much app