GERMINAL
"I say now, over there, they are waiting for you! Is that little chat nearly done?"
But she turned her back. Why should he be so zealous, this man who had sold himself? The descent didn't concern him. His men hated him enough already on his level. And she persisted, with her lamp in her hand, frozen amid the draughts in spite of the mildness of the season. Neither Étienne nor she found anything more to say. They remained facing each other with hearts so full that they would like to speak once more.
At last she spoke for the sake of speaking.
"The Levaque is in the family-way. Levaque is still in prison; Bouteloup is taking his place meanwhile."
"Ah, yes! Bouteloup."
"And, listen! did I tell you? Philomène has gone away."
"What! gone away?"
"Yes, gone away with a Pas-de-Calais miner. I was afraid she would leave the two brats on me. But no, she took them with her. Eh? A woman who spits blood and looks as if she were always swallowing her tongue!"
She mused for a moment, and then went on in a slow voice:
"There's been talk on my account. You remember they said I slept with you. Lord! After my man's death that might very well have happened if I had been younger. But now I'm glad it wasn't so, for we should have regretted it, sure enough."
"Yes, we should have regretted it," Étienne repeated, simply.
That was all; they spoke no more. A cage was waiting for her; she was being called angrily, threatened with a fine. Then she made up her mind, and pressed his hand. Deeply moved, he still looked at her, so worn and worked out, with her livid face, her discoloured hair escaping from the blue cap, her body as of a good over-fruitful beast, deformed beneath the jacket and trousers. And in this last pressure of the hands, he felt again the long, silent pressure of his mates, giving him a rendez-vous for the day when they would begin again. He understood perfectly. There was a tranquil faith in the depths of her eyes. It would be soon, and that time it would be the final blow.
"A damned shammer!" exclaimed Pierron.
Pushed and hustled, Maheude squeezed into a tram, with four others. The signal-cord was drawn to strike for meat, the
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