What would become of that
poor little fellow? To what early death, what life of suffering or
wretchedness, or even crime, had he been thus brutally cast?
But the cab continued rolling on, and for a long while neither Mathieu
nor La Couteau spoke again. It was only when the latter alighted in the
Rue de Miromesnil that she began to lament, on seeing that it was already
half-past five o'clock, for she felt certain that she would miss her
train, particularly as she still had some accounts to settle and that
other child upstairs to fetch. Mathieu, who had intended to keep the cab
and drive to the Northern terminus, then experienced a feeling of
curiosity, and thought of witnessing the departure of the nurse-agents.
So he calmed La Couteau by telling her that if she would make haste he
would wait for her. And as she asked for a quarter of an hour, it
occurred to him to speak to Norine again, and so he also went upstairs.
When he entered Norine's room he found her sitting up in bed, eating one
of the oranges which her little sisters had brought her. She had all the
greedy instincts of a plump, pretty girl; she carefully detached each
section of the orange, and, her eyes half closed the while, her flesh
quivering under her streaming outspread hair, she sucked one after
another with her fresh red lips, like a pet cat lapping a cup of milk.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241