ng herself most amiable.

"You know, we might arrange the matter between us. I would relieve you
of the rest of the lease and settle your matter with the landlord. In
short, you would not be worried nearly so much."

"No thanks," declared Gervaise, shaking herself as though she felt a
shudder pass over her. "I'll work; I've got my two arms, thank heaven!
to help me out of my difficulties."

"We can talk about it some other time," the hatter hastened to put in.
"It's scarcely the thing to do so this evening. Some other time--in the
morning for instance."

At this moment, Madame Lerat, who had gone into the little room, uttered
a faint cry. She had had a fright because she had found the candle burnt
out. They all busied themselves in lighting another; they shook their
heads, saying that it was not a good sign when the light went out beside
a corpse.

The wake commenced. Coupeau had gone to lie down, not to sleep, said he,
but to think; and five minutes afterwards he was snoring. When they sent
Nana off to sleep at the Boches' she cried; she had been looking
forward ever since the morning to being nice and warm in her good friend
Lantier's big bed. The Poissons stayed till midnight. Some hot wine had
been made in a salad-bowl because the coffee affected the ladies' nerves
too much. The conversation became tenderly effusive. Virginie talked of
the country: she would like to be buried at the corner of a wood with
wild flowers on her grave. Madame Lerat had already put by in her
wardrobe the sheet for her shroud, and she kept it perfumed with a bunch
of lavender; she wished always to have a nice smell under her nose when
she would be eating the dandelions by the roots. Then, with no sort of
transition, the policeman related that he had arrested a fine girl that
morning who had been stealing from a pork-butcher's shop; on undressing
her at the commissary of police's they had found ten sausages hanging
round her body. And Madame Lorilleux having remarked, with a look of
disgust, that she would not eat any of those sausages, the party burst
into a gentle laugh. The wake became livelier, though not ceasing to
preserve appearances.

But just as they were finishing the hot wine a peculiar noise, a dull
trickling sound, issued from the little room. All raised their heads and
looked at each other.

"It's nothing," said Lantier quietly, lowering his voice. "She's
emptying."

The explanation caused the others to nod their hea