!"

Claude went off, and strolled about the footways. The dawn had risen in
the white sheaf of light at the end of the Rue Rambuteau; and the sun,
now level with the house-tops, was diffusing rosy rays which already
fell in warm patches on the pavements. Claude was conscious of a
gay awakening in the huge resonant markets--indeed, all over the
neighbourhood--crowded with piles of food. It was like the joy that
comes after cure, the mirth of folks who are at last relieved of a heavy
weight which has been pulling them down. He saw La Sarriette displaying
a gold chain and singing amidst her plums and strawberries, while she
playfully pulled the moustaches of Monsieur Jules, who was arrayed in a
velvet jacket. He also caught sight of Madame Lecoeur and Mademoiselle
Saget passing along one of the covered ways, and looking less sallow
than usual--indeed, almost rosy--as they laughed like bosom friends
over some amusing story. In the fish market, old Madame Mehudin, who
had returned to her stall, was slapping her fish, abusing customers, and
snubbing the new inspector, a presumptuous young man whom she had sworn
to spank; while Claire, seemingly more languid and indolent than ever,
extended her hands, blue from immersion in the water of her tanks, to
gather together a great heap of edible snails, shimmering with silvery
slime. In the tripe market Auguste and Augustine, with the foolish
expression of newly-married people, had just been purchasing some
pigs' trotters, and were starting off in a trap for their pork shop at
Montrouge. Then, as it was now eight o'clock and already quite warm,
Claude, on again coming to the Rue Rambuteau, perceived Muche and
Pauline playing at horses. Muche was crawling along on all-fours, while
Pauline sat on his back, and clung to his hair to keep herself from
falling. However, a moving shadow which fell from the eaves of the
market roof made Claude look up; and he then espied Cadine and Marjolin
aloft, kissing and warming themselves in the sunshine, parading their
loves before the whole neighbourhood like a pair of light-hearted
animals.

Claude shook his fist at them. All this joyousness down below and on
high exasperated him. He reviled the Fat; the Fat, he declared, had
conquered the Thin. All around him he could see none but the Fat
protruding their paunches, bursting with robust health, and greeting
with delight another day of gorging and digestion. And a last blow was
dealt to him by the