Mme Torchebeuf, who was familiar with everything of the office, replied:
"Yes, she was an orphan, very much too young for him, and deceived him
with a worthless fellow, and she ended in running away with him."
Then the fat lady added: "I say he was a worthless fellow, but I know
nothing about it. It is reported that they loved one another very much.
In any case, old Savon is not very seductive."
Mme Lesable replied gravely:
"That is no excuse; the poor man is much to be pitied. Our next door
neighbour, M. Barbou, has had the same experience. His wife fell in love
with a sort of painter who passed his summers here, and she has gone
abroad with him. I do not understand how women can fall so low. To my
mind it seems a special chastisement should be meted out to those wicked
creatures who bring shame upon their families."
At the end of the alley the nurse appeared, carrying the little Désirée
wrapped in her laces. The child, all rosy in the red gold of the evening
light, was coming towards the two women. She stared at the fiery sky with
the same pale and astonished eyes with which she regarded their faces.
All the men who were talking at a distance drew near, and Cachelin,
seizing his little granddaughter, tossed her aloft in his arms as if he
would carry her to the skies. Her figure was outlined against the
brilliant line of the horizon, while her long white robe almost touched
the ground; and the grand-father cried: "Look! isn't this the best thing
in the world, after all, father Savon?"
But the old man made no reply, having nothing to say, or perhaps thinking
too many things.