Abbé Bourrette, who had formed part of the chain of men who passed the buckets on, was sobbing bitterly. The poor man refused all consolation. He would not sit down, but remained standing, with anxious, troubled eyes, watching the last beams burn away. Abbé Surin had also been seen; but he had disappeared after picking up in the crowd all the information he could.
'Come along; let us be off to bed,' exclaimed Monsieur de Bourdeu. 'It is foolish of us to stop here.'
The whole party rose. It was settled that Monsieur Rastoil and his wife and daughter should spend the night at the Paloques'. Madame de Condamin gently tapped her dress, which had got slightly creased, in order to straighten it. The easy-chairs were pushed out of the way, and the company lingered yet a few more moments while bidding each other good-night. The engine was still snorting, and the fire was dying down amidst dense black smoke. Nothing was to be heard but the tramping of the diminishing crowd and the last blows of a fireman's axe striking down a beam.
'It is all over!' thought Macquart, who still kept his position on the opposite pathway.
He remained there a few moments longer, listening to the last words which Monsieur de Condamin exchanged in low tones with Madame Paloque.
'Bah!' said the judge's wife, 'no one will cry for him, unless it's that big gander Bourrette. He had grown quite unendurable, and we were nothing but his slaves. His lordship the Bishop, I dare say, has got a smiling face just now. Plassans is at last delivered!'
'And the Rougons!' exclaimed Monsieur de Condamin. 'They must be quite delighted.'
'I should think so, indeed. The Rougons must be up in the heavens. They will inherit the Abbé's conquest. Ah! they would have paid anyone well who would have run the risk of setting the house on fire.'
Macquart went away feeling extremely dissatisfied. He was beginning to fear that he had been duped. The joy of the Rougons filled him with consternation. The Rougons were crafty folks who always played a double game, and whose opponents were quite certain to end by getting the worst of the struggle. As Macquart crossed the Place of the Sub-Prefecture he swore to himself that he would never set to work in this blind way again.
As he went up to the room where Marthe lay dying he found Rose sitting on one of the stairs. She was in a fuming rage.