besides Jouse did not work for the whole of Saint
Loup; he never had worked for the whole of Saint
Loup; there had always been those who bought
ready-made rubbish, his own sister, for instance, who
had gone by train to Marseille if she needed a new
chair or table. And yet Kahn was prospering; why,
only that morning she, Marie, had seen a drawing-
room suite being purchased from him by Madame
Hermitte, and the Hermittes had been Jouse's cus-
tomers once—-he had made nearly everything in
their house, including the cradle for their first baby.
Madame Hermitte had appeared to be much occupied,
much engrossed the moment she had caught sight of
Marie. Anatole Kahn of the Galeries Kahn, so crafty
in business, so persuasively gentle: cAh, Madame,
I hope that your dear little son suffers less from his
asthma in this fine weather . . .' 'Ah, Madame, I
have but one heartfelt regret and that is that your
husband appears to dislike me. Cannot you induce
him to be more kind ? I much need his goodwill,
I who come as a stranger . . .* Anatole Kahn of the
Galeries Kahn, so brilliant a salesman with so handy
a shop, and everything ready, no need to wait, and
everything clearly marked with the prices, no need
to work out the cost of a chair or a table or a bed —
no need to bargain. Goundran had bought Elise a
brass bed, Goundran was buying from Kahn . , .
even Goundran.
She stared at her husband as he stood there before
her, very big, very strong still but growing much
thinner. At his age it was not a good sign to lose
flesh, his skin looked distressed somehow —it was
sagging. And his eyes, what was it they reminded her
of now that they were not any longer angry? Ah, she
had it! They were like the eyes of a dog . . . And
that sigh ... it was like . . . Her mind groped
about for something she had heard a long time ago
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