he following Saturday Coupeau brought Lantier home with him in the
evening. He remained standing and avoided looking at Gervaise.

Coupeau looked at them, and then spoke his mind very plainly. They were
not going to behave like a couple of geese, he hoped. The past was the
past, was it not? If people nursed grudges after nine and ten years, one
would end by no longer seeing anybody. No, no, he carried his heart in
his hand, he did. He knew who he had to deal with, a worthy woman and a
worthy man--in short, two friends.

"Oh! that's certain, quite certain," repeated Gervaise.

"She's a sister now--nothing but a sister," murmured Lantier.

From that evening Lantier frequently called at the Rue de la Goutte
d'Or. He came when the zinc-worker was there, inquiring after his health
the moment he passed the door, and affecting to have solely called for
him. Then, shaved, his hair nicely divided, and always wearing his
overcoat, he would take a seat by the window, and converse politely with
the manners of a man who had received a good education. Thus the
Coupeaus learnt little by little some particulars of his life.

During the last eight years he had for a while managed a hat factory;
and when they asked him why he had retired from it, he merely alluded to
the rascality of a partner. He was forever saying that he was on the
point of making a first-class arrangement; some wholesale manufacturers
were about to establish him in business and trust him with an enormous
stock. Meanwhile, he did nothing whatever but walk about like a
gentleman. In his effusiveness Coupeau suggested that Lantier become a
lodger, and overruled all objections. Nevertheless, Lantier showed no
intention for a long while of trespassing on the bibulous good nature of
Coupeau.

_V.--The Beginning of the End_

Coupeau was now becoming a confirmed drunkard and presently Lantier
ceased paying for his lodging, talking of clearing up everything as soon
as he had completed an agreement. Thus Gervaise had two men to support,
while her increasing indolence and gluttony continuously reduced her
earnings. Custom began to fall away faster and faster and soon they were
living almost entirely on credit. Then Madame Coupeau, who had come to
live with her son and Gervaise soon after the shop was opened, died. The
funeral was celebrated with pomp and feast greatly in excess of the
resources of the Coupeaus and helped considerably towards the final
ruin.

As the