Or else they had been unable to agree upon
wages.
"Oh! no, the mean things! A dirty dance hall . . . nothing to pinch. She does her own marketing. Oh! la! la! Four children in the house! Think of it!"
The whole punctuated by furious or obscene gestures.
We all passed into the bureau by turns, summoned by Mme. Paulhat-Durand, whose voice grew shriller and shriller, and whose shining flesh at last became green with anger. For my part, I saw directly with whom I had to deal, and that the place did not suit me. Then, to amuse myself, instead of submitting to their stupid questions, I questioned the fine ladies themselves.
"Madame is married?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Ah! And Madame has children?"
"Certainly."
"Dogs?"
"Yes."
"Madame makes the chambermaid sit up?"
"When I go out in the evening . . . evidently."
"And Madame often goes out in the evening?
Pursing up her lips, she was about to answer; but I, casting a contemptuous glance at her hat, her costume, and her entire person, said, in a curt and disdainful voice:
