A rush of bile gave a yellow hue to the young girl’s skinny countenance. And, with clenched teeth, she replied:
“Though she’s big and plump, Verdier can leave her. And I will make him leave her sooner than you think, just to spite you all. Yes, yes, I will get married without any one else’s assistance. They’re far too solid, the marriages you put together!”
Then, as her mother was advancing toward her, she added:
“Ah! you know, I don’t intend to be slapped! Take care.” They looked each other straight in the eyes, and Madame Josserand was the first to yield, hiding her retreat beneath an air of scornful domination. But the father thought the battle was going to begin again. In the midst of his sobs, he kept repeating:
“I can bear it no longer—I can bear it no longer—”
The dining-room became once more wrapped in silence. Berthe, her cheek on her arm, and still heaving long, nervous sighs, was growing calmer. Hortense had quietly seated herself at the other end of the table, and was buttering the remainder of a roll, so as to pull herself together again. Well! butter at twenty-two sous could only be poison. And, as it left a stinking deposit at the bottom of the saucepans, Adèle was explaining that it was not even economical, when a dull thud, a distant shake of the floor, suddenly caused them to listen intently.
Berthe, all anxiety, at length raised her head.
“What’s that!” asked she.
“It’s perhaps madame and the other lady, in the drawing-room,” said Adèle.
Madame Josserand had started with surprise, as she crossed the drawing-room. A woman was there all alone.