One evening in December they had no dinner at all.
There was not a radish left.
Lantier, who was very glum, went out early, wandering about in search of some other den where the smell of the kitchen would bring a smile to one’s face.
He would now remain for hours beside the stove wrapt in thought.
Then, suddenly, he began to evince a great friendship for the Poissons.
He no longer teased the policeman and even went so far as to concede that the Emperor might not be such a bad fellow after all.
He seemed to especially admire Virginie.
No doubt he was hoping to board with them.
Virginie having acquainted him with her desire to set up in some sort of business, he agreed with everything she said, and declared that her idea was a most brilliant one.
She was just the person for trade — tall, engaging and active.
Oh! she would make as much as she liked.
The capital had been available for some time, thanks to an inheritance from an aunt.
Lantier told her of all the shopkeepers who were making fortunes.
The time was right for it; you could sell anything these days.
Virginie, however, hesitated; she was looking for a shop that was to be let, she did not wish to leave the neighborhood.
Then Lantier would take her into corners and converse with her in an undertone for ten minutes at a time.
He seemed to be urging her to do something in spite of herself; and she no longer said “no,” but appeared to authorize him to act.
It was as a secret between them, with winks and words rapidly exchanged, some mysterious understanding which betrayed itself even in their handshakings.
From this moment the hatter would covertly watch the Coupeaus whilst eating their dry bread, and becoming very talkative again, would deafen them with his continual jeremiads.
All day long Gervaise moved in the midst of that poverty which he so obligingly spread out.
Mon Dieu! he wasn’t thinking of himself; he would go on starving with his friends as long as they liked.
But look at it with common sense.
They owed at least five hundred francs in the neighborhood.
Besides which, they were two quarters rent behind with the rent, which meant another two hundred and fifty francs; the landlord, Monsieur Marescot, even spoke of having them evicted if they did not pay him by the first of January.
Finally the pawn-place had absorbed everything, one could not have got together three francs’ worth of odds and ends, the clearance had been so complete; the nails remained in the walls and that was all and perhaps there were two pounds of them at three sous the pound.
Gervaise, thoroughly entangled in it all, her nerves quite upset by this calculation, would fly into a passion and bang her fists down upon the table or else she would end by bursting into tears like a fool.
One night she exclaimed:
“I’ll be off to-morrow!
I prefer to put the key under the door and to sleep on the pavement rather than continue to live in such frights.”
“It would be wiser,” said Lantier slyly, “to get rid of the lease if you could find someone to take it. When you are both decided to give up the shop — “
She interrupted him more violently:
“At once, at once!
Ah! it’ll be a good riddance!”
Then the hatter became very practical.
On giving up the lease one would no doubt get the new tenant to be responsible for the two overdue quarters.
And he ventured to mention the Poissons, he reminded them that Virginie was looking for a shop; theirs would perhaps suit her.
He remembered that he had heard her say she longed for one just like it.
But when Virginie’s name was mentioned the laundress suddenly regained her composure.
We’ll see how things go along.
When you’re angry you always talk of quitting, but it isn’t so easy when you just stop to think about it.
During the following days it was in vain that Lantier harped upon the subject. Gervaise replied that she had seen herself worse off and had pulled through.
How would she be better off when she no longer had her shop?
That would not put bread into their mouths.
She would, on the contrary, engage some fresh workwomen and work up a fresh connection.
Lantier made the mistake of mentioning Virginie again. This stirred Gervaise into furious obstinacy.
No! Never!
She had always had her suspicions of what was in Virginie’s heart. Virginie only wanted to humiliate her.
She would rather turn it over to the first woman to come in from the street than to that hypocrite who had been waiting for years to see her fail.
Yes, Virginie still had in mind that fight in the wash-house.
Well, she’d be wiser to forget about it, unless she wanted another one now. In the face of this flow of angry retorts, Lantier began by attacking Gervaise. He called her stupid and stuck-up. He even went so far as to abuse Coupeau, accusing him of not knowing how to make his wife respect his friend.