"I shall
soon have to look somewhere for a hole to lie in. Still, I hope it won't
be under an omnibus."
He alluded to the death of his father, who had finally been picked up
under an omnibus in the Rue de Grenelle, with his skull split and both
legs broken.
"But after all," resumed Victor, "one may as well die that way as any
other! It's even quicker. The old man was lucky in having Norine and
Cecile to look after him. If it hadn't been for them, it's starvation
that would have killed him, not an omnibus."
Mathieu interrupted. "Are Norine and Cecile well?" he asked.
"Yes, Monsieur Froment. Leastways, as far as I know, for, as you can
understand, we don't often see one another. Them and me, that's about all
that's left out of our lot; for Irma won't have anything more to do with
us since she's become one of the toffs. Euphrasie was lucky enough to
die, and that brigand Alfred disappeared, which was real relief, I assure
you; for I feared that I should be seeing him at the galleys. And I was
really pleased when I had some news of Norine and Cecile lately. Norine
is older than I am, you know; she will soon be sixty. But she was always
strong, and her boy, it seems, looks after her.
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