GERMINAL
Souvarine had remained standing near the Avantage, at the corner of the road. For half-an-hour he had been looking at the colliers who were returning to work in the darkness, passing by with the dull tramp of a herd. He was counting them, as a butcher counts his beasts at the entrance to the slaughter-house and he was surprised at their number; even his pessimism had not foreseen that the number of cowards would have been so great. The stream continued to pass by, and he grew stiff, very cold, with clenched teeth and bright eyes.
But he started. Among the men passing by, whose faces he could not distinguish, he had just recognised one by his walk. He came forward and stopped him.
"Where are you going to?"
Étienne, in surprise, instead of replying, stammered:
"What! you've not set out yet!"
Then he confessed he was going back to the pit. No doubt he had sworn; only it could not be called life to wait with crossed arms for things which would perhaps happen in a hundred years; and, besides, reasons of his own had decided him.
Souvarine had listened to him, shuddering. He seized him by the shoulder, and pushed him towards the settlement.
"Go home again; I want you to. Do you understand?"
But Catherine having approached, he recognised her also. Étienne protested, declaring that he allowed no one to judge his conduct. And the engine-man's eyes went from the young girl to her companion, while he stepped back with a sudden, relinquishing movement. When there was a woman in a man's heart that man was done for; he might die. Perhaps he saw again in a rapid vision his mistress hanging over there at Moscow, that last link cut from his flesh, which had rendered him free over the lives of others and over his own life. He said simply:
"Go."
Étienne, feeling awkward, was delaying, and trying to find some friendly word, so as not to separate in this manner.
"Then you're still going?"
"Yes."
"Well, give me your hand, old chap. A pleasant journey, and no ill-feeling."
The other stretched out an icy hand. Neither friend nor wife.
[412]
