"Just look at her," said Madame Marie-Claire to young Delage. "She wants to cry. I understand her. A man killed himself for me. I was greatly upset by it. He was a count."
"Well, begin again!" shouted Pradel. "Come now, Mademoiselle Nanteuil, your cue!"
Whereupon Nanteuil:
"'Cousin, I was so happy when I awoke this morning....'"
Suddenly, Madame Doulce appeared. Ponderous and mournful, she let fall the following words:
"I have very sad news. The parish priest will not allow him to enter his church."
As Chevalier had no relations left other than a sister, a working-woman at Pantin, Madame Doulce had undertaken to make arrangements for the funeral at the expense of the members of the company.
They gathered round her. She continued:
"The Church rejects him as though he were accurst! That's dreadful!"