on the floor and, lifting his heel, he seemed on the point of
crushing in her head in order to silence her. For the twinkling of an
eye she felt sickening dread. Blinded with rage, he had begun beating
about the room like a maniac. Then his choking silence and the struggle
with which he was shaken melted her to tears. She felt a mortal regret
and, rolling herself up in front of the fire so as to roast her right
side, she undertook the task of comforting him.

"I take my oath, darling, I thought you knew it all. Otherwise I
shouldn't have spoken; you may be sure. But perhaps it isn't true.
I don't say anything for certain. I've been told it, and people are
talking about it, but what does that prove? Oh, get along! You're very
silly to grow riled about it. If I were a man I shouldn't care a rush
for the women! All the women are alike, you see, high or low; they're
all rowdy and the rest of it."

In a fit of self-abnegation she was severe on womankind, for she wished
thus to lessen the cruelty of her blow. But he did not listen to her or
hear what she said. With fumbling movements he had put on his boots and
his overcoat. For a moment longer he raved round, and then in a final
outburst, finding himself near the door, he rushed from the room. Nana
was very much annoyed.

"Well, well! A prosperous trip to you!" she continued aloud, though she
was now alone. "He's polite, too, that fellow is, when he's spoken to!
And I had to defend myself at that! Well, I was the first to get back my
temper and I made plenty of excuses, I'm thinking! Besides, he had been
getting on my nerves!"

Nevertheless, she was not happy and sat scratching her legs with both
hands. Then she took high ground:

"Tut, tut, it isn't my fault if he is a cuckold!"

And toasted on every side and as hot as a roast bird, she went and
buried herself under the bedclothes after ringing for Zoe to usher in
the other man, who was waiting in the kitchen.

Once outside, Muffat began walking at a furious pace. A fresh shower had
just fallen, and he kept slipping on the greasy pavement. When he looked
mechanically up into the sky he saw ragged, soot-colored clouds scudding
in front of the moon. At this hour of the night passers-by were
becoming few and far between in the Boulevard Haussmann. He skirted the
enclosures round the opera house in his search for darkness, and as he
went along he kept mumbling inconsequent phrases. That girl had been
lying. She had inve