She spoke in a low voice, with suspicious glances round. Then, as Pierron was coming up, she added, aloud:
"Well, if you're going, you must take your things from our house. There are still two shirts, three handkerchiefs, and an old pair of trousers."
Étienne, with a gesture, refused these few things saved from the dealers.
"No, it's not worth while; they can be for the children. At Paris I can arrange for myself."
Two more cages had gone down, and Pierron decided to speak straight to Maheude.
"I say now, over there, they are waiting for you! Is that little chat nearly done?"
But she turned her back. Why should he be so zealous, this man who had sold himself? The descent didn't concern him. His men hated him enough already on his level. And she persisted, with her lamp in her hand, f
