broken. Now look at this fan; it's only held together
with glue!"

She had snatched up a fan and was dragging at the blades so that the
silk was torn in two. This seemed to excite her, and in order to show
that she scorned the other presents, the moment she had ruined his she
treated herself to a general massacre, rapping each successive object
and proving clearly that not one was solid in that she had broken them
all. There was a lurid glow in her vacant eyes, and her lips, slightly
drawn back, displayed her white teeth. Soon, when everything was in
fragments, she laughed cheerily again and with flushed cheeks beat on
the table with the flat of her hands, lisping like a naughty little
girl:

"All over! Got no more! Got no more!"

Then Philippe was overcome by the same mad excitement, and, pushing
her down, he merrily kissed her bosom. She abandoned herself to him
and clung to his shoulders with such gleeful energy that she could not
remember having enjoyed herself so much for an age past. Without letting
go of him she said caressingly:

"I say, dearie, you ought certainly to bring me ten louis tomorrow. It's
a bore, but there's the baker's bill worrying me awfully."

He had grown pale. Then imprinting a final kiss on her forehead, he said
simply:

"I'll try."

Silence reigned. She was dressing, and he stood pressing his forehead
against the windowpanes. A minute passed, and he returned to her and
deliberately continued:

"Nana, you ought to marry me."

This notion straightway so tickled the young woman that she was unable
to finish tying on her petticoats.

"My poor pet, you're ill! D'you offer me your hand because I ask you for
ten louis? No, never! I'm too fond of you. Good gracious, what a silly
question!"

And as Zoe entered in order to put her boots on, they ceased talking of
the matter. The lady's maid at once espied the presents lying broken in
pieces on the table. She asked if she should put these things away,
and, Madame having bidden her get rid of them, she carried the whole
collection off in the folds of her dress. In the kitchen a sorting-out
process began, and Madame's debris were shared among the servants.

That day Georges had slipped into the house despite Nana's orders to the
contrary. Francois had certainly seen him pass, but the servants had
now got to laugh among themselves at their good lady's embarrassing
situations. He had just slipped as far as the little drawing room when
his