Each evening saw the most painful scenes take place at table. Cachelin
continually reiterated: "When a man is not a man, he had better get out
and yield his place to another."
And Cora added: "The fact is, there are some men who are both useless
and wearisome. I do not know why they are permitted to live only to become
a burden to everyone."
Lesable dosed himself and made no reply. At last one day his
father-in-law cried: "Say, you, if you do not change your manners now that
your health is improving, do you know what my daughter means to do?"
The son-in-law raised his eyes, foreseeing a new outrage. Cachelin
continued: "She will take somebody else, confound you! You may consider
yourself lucky if she hasn't done so already. When a girl has married a
weakling like you, she is entitled to do anything."
Lesable, turning livid with wrath, replied: "It is not I who prevents
her from following your good counsel."
Cora: lowered her eyes, and Cachelin, knowing that he had said an
outrageous thing, remained silent and confused.