h it. It's I you're going to
marry. That's why I've come."

"Eh, what? You too?" she cried. "Why, it's a family disease, is it? No,
never! What a fancy, to be sure! Have I ever asked you to do anything so
nasty? Neither one nor t'other of you! No, never!"

The lad's face brightened. Perhaps he had been deceiving himself! He
continued:

"Then swear to me that you don't go to bed with my brother."

"Oh, you're beginning to bore me now!" said Nana, who had risen with
renewed impatience. "It's amusing for a little while, but when I tell
you I'm in a hurry--I go to bed with your brother if it pleases me. Are
you keeping me--are you paymaster here that you insist on my making a
report? Yes, I go to bed with your brother."

He had caught hold of her arm and squeezed it hard enough to break it as
he stuttered:

"Don't say that! Don't say that!"

With a slight blow she disengaged herself from his grasp.

"He's maltreating me now! Here's a young ruffian for you! My chicken,
you'll leave this jolly sharp. I used to keep you about out of niceness.
Yes, I did! You may stare! Did you think I was going to be your mamma
till I died? I've got better things to do than to bring up brats."

He listened to her stark with anguish, yet in utter submission. Her
every word cut him to the heart so sharply that he felt he should die.
She did not so much as notice his suffering and continued delightedly to
revenge herself on him for the annoyance of the morning.

"It's like your brother; he's another pretty Johnny, he is! He promised
me two hundred francs. Oh, dear me; yes, I can wait for 'em. It isn't
his money I care for! I've not got enough to pay for hair oil. Yes, he's
leaving me in a jolly fix! Look here, d'you want to know how matters
stand? Here goes then: it's all owing to your brother that I'm going out
to earn twenty-five louis with another man."

At these words his head spun, and he barred her egress. He cried; he
besought her not to go, clasping his hands together and blurting out:

"Oh no! Oh no!"

"I want to, I do," she said. "Have you the money?"

No, he had not got the money. He would have given his life to have
the money! Never before had he felt so miserable, so useless, so very
childish. All his wretched being was shaken with weeping and gave proof
of such heavy suffering that at last she noticed it and grew kind. She
pushed him away softly.

"Come, my pet, let me pass; I must. Be reasonable. You're a baby boy