"This is the story of Jacques Lantier, son of Gervaise, of the Rougon-Macquart family." ""He knew of his hereditary failing and thought he was paying for the others, his drunken forbears, the generations of drunkards." "His mind broke under the effort of being compelled to act against his wishes and for no cause within himself'." " Feel it?" " Yes." "Hot axle-box." "It's not for a lack of oil." "She's drinking it!" "Seen your wife in Paris, Pecqueux?" "Yes, Mr Roubaud." "All right?" "Oh, she's always complaining, you know but we manage." "I've a complaint." "There's a man with a dog." "Please come along." "Overheated... done for." "Trouble-maker!" "Why not with my dog?" "Not in that compartment." "It's the regulations." "I don't care for your manner." "I make no distinction between passengers." "I'll teach you to make a difference." "What's your name?" "Roubaud, station master." " Very well." " l'll make a report." "Roubaud's the name?" "Yes, and I'm not ashamed of it." "That was very nice of you." "Not at all." "Some people need a lesson." " Know who he is?" " No, sir." "Turlot... the sugar king." "He has influence." "If he wants to, he could do you harm." "But the lady had complained." "All right." "Let it go." "Mr Roubaud." " Hello." " Free now?" "Yes, fortunately." "Come and play cards to-night." "I'm not keen on cards and there's my wife." "Ah, you happy man!" "Hello, Miss Dauvergne." "Come and see us." "I don't want to intrude." "I saw her this afternoon." " Had a talk?" " Surely!" "Séverine." "Finished now?" "I had five minutes to spare." "Not been out?" "No, Miss Dauvergne was here." "We talked." "All right?" "Yes, all right." "All right without being all right." "I've had trouble with a passenger who might cause me trouble." " What sort?" " You never know." "Go and see your godfather." "Think I should?" " Frightened of him?" " Nonsense." "When you were little you were terrified." "Terrified!" "You always exaggerate." "All the others were afraid." "Even his daughter..." "When he appeared, they all run away." "But I just stood firm with my nose in the air." "He laughed and patted me... and I got everything I wanted..." "He never told me off." "In that case, ask him to do this." " You want me to?" " Yes." "And it gives us a chance to go to Paris." "You can do some shopping, and I'll wait for you as usual." "OK, I'll go then." " Well, how goes it?" " Get it on time?" " With a broken axle-box." " Unlucky!" " You're on...?" " Train 112." "Well, so long." "The axle-box seized up." "You didn't grease it." "Of course I've greased it but Lison's a thirsty girl, so..." " Lison?" "Who is she?" " My loco." " You'll pay for it." " We'll see." "What do I do?" "Go back to Paris?" "It'll only take 36 hours." "You can stop over here." "Right..." "Fire out!" "She'll be ready to-morrow." "What have you got?" "Sardines and a tin of baked beans." "Tinned food... disgusting." "You ought to get married." "I'm already married to Lison." "A locomotive!" "We are married to a loco now." "We had a terrific run with the wind to-day." "Saved more than a ton of coal." "You're annoyed about that axle, eh?" "Yes, because it happened here." "If it'd been at the depot in Paris, I knowthe chaps in the workshop." "They do good work here." "Philoméne will be pleased." "Oh yes, Sauvagnat's sister." "Don't tell Sauvagnat." "He thinks his sister's a good girl." " And your wife?" " Oh, she's very good-hearted." "I'll put your ham with my eggs." " Ham and eggs?" " Yes." "What will you do to-morrow?" "See her through the workshops." "Then I'll go and see my godmother." "You've a godmother here?" "Not here in Le Havre." "She's the level-crossing keeper at Bréauté." "We often see her as we pass." "What train are you on?" "N-116." "Why?" "Would you tell my wife we've engine trouble?" "Burnt-out axle-box." "We'll be back to-morrow." "You know my wife?" "Victoire..." "Lavatory attendant, Saint-Lazare." "You can count on me." "How's tricks?" "You're not often here." "My godmother's here?" "Go in." "You'll find her." "Staying for the day?" "Well, godmother, any better?" "It's you, Jacques." "How nice to see you." "Anything wrong?" "No, I'm fine. lt's just that Lison has let me down for 48 hours." "Good... you can rest and I can see more of you." "I see you often but going by at such a speed, I hardly recognize you." "What about... those attacks you had that the doctor couldn't understand?" "That's over now, godmother." "Quite over?" "That pain you had behind the ears and the temperatures and these sudden feelings of sadness?" "Everything's fine now, godmother, really." "So much the better." "Your being ill wouldn't help me." "And at your age..." "Find Flora." "She's down by the river." "Yes, I'll look for Flora." "You looked at me!" "Well, it's not forbidden." "You're nice to look at anyhow." "I don't like being looked at." "You've changed." "You're a big girl." "You've changed, too." "You look at me, too, now." "I don't like that." " Gonna duck me, too?" " Hands off, or I will." "What is it, Jacques?" "What's the matter?" "I don't know. I just don't... I didn't realize what I was doing." "It's your illness?" "Yes... your mamma told you about it?" "Yes, that's it." "It's like a sort of black smoke which... comes up into my head." "I feel like a mad dog wanting to fight." "Yet I never drink." "Alcohol makes me mad." "I'm beginning to think I'm paying for all my ancestors who drank." "Generations of drunkards who rotted my blood and gave me this madness." "It's terrible... and yet I love you with all my heart, Flora." "I love you so much..." "I was afraid to come." "I love you too, Jacques." "I'd like to marry you." "I'm ready to run the risk." "Madness!" "Don't speak of it." "Don't be angry." "I'm afraid... that women... for me..." "Well, Roubaud!" "Séverine's not ill?" " No, she's shopping." " She likes shopping... like her mother did." "I arranged to meet her here." " Where's your husband?" " He's at Le Havre." "Engine trouble." "I didn't know." "We station staff..." "Of course." "Don't forget to leave the key." "Any message?" "Not for my husband." "He's got what he needs at Le Havre." "Well, so long." "is he there?" " Yes, I'll tell his secretary." " l'd like to see him." " And he you." " There are new curtains." " Not so good." " l'll tell the secretary." "Séverine!" "A long time since I saw you." "My godfather?" "Mr Grandmorin is always pleased to see you." " Hello!" " Hello, Séverine." "You've got thinner." "I know it's fashionable, but I don't like it." "You must have thought I got lost." "How I ran!" "The metro was impossible." "I took a taxi and ran." "See how hot I am." "You've not been at the Bon Marché all the time." "Don't be nasty!" "You know I love you!" "I have a little present for you." "Say "my little present"." "Say it quickly." "My little present." "Well, that's a jolly good knife." "Yes... it's a Nogent." "Let's eat, I'm so hungry!" "How did it go with Grandmorin?" "He telephoned to a friend at the company. I don't know who... and sent a word to Turlot." "Everything's settled." "I must say, he has influence." "Lucky he's your godfather and likes you." "Yes... he likes me." "He invited me to his country-house." "To Joinville?" " When?" " To-day." " You refused?" " Yes." "Why?" "I didn't want to." "Why do things I don't like?" "You're hiding something." "You're always odd about Grandmorin." "I've a funny idea." "You might be his daughter." " Daughter?" " Your mother was... there as a servant." "But what if you are his daughter?" "His daughter... ls that possible?" "Do I look like him?" "Calm down, I was only joking." " No, not here." " But..." " Stop it." " What's up with you?" "Men disgust me." "You only think of that." "You're all the same." "This ring he gave me..." "What's that?" "The ring he gave you..." "Who?" "Grandmorin." "When?" "For my 16th birthday." "You said it was your mother." "I said that?" "You've told me so a hundred times." "Why did you lie?" "I never said so." " You've slept with him?" " No." "Own up, you bitch!" "Will you own up, for God's sake!" "Yes, it's true." "Let me go." "You've made a fool of me." "An old man's left-overs." "He was going by car?" "Or by train?" "The 6.20 for Le Havre?" "That's our train." "Come here, you!" "Hurry up!" "Sit down." "Now write..." "Write!" ""Take the express at 6.20... from Saint Lazare." "I'll come to your compartment."" "What will you do?" "You'll see what I'll do." "And you'll do it with me." "That'll keep us together." "Something solid between us..." "Come to see us, Lantier?" "Hi, Lantier." "How goes it, Cabuche?" "Seen your godmother?" "Going somewhere?" "Le Havre." "Haven't been for a month." "So I'm off!" "Have a good time!" "The train's half-empty." "Always is during the week." "Good, I'll sleep all the way." "Don't go!" "Come along." "He saw us." "I'll talk to him." "Fine day... ln Paris it was so hot, it was unbearable." "Chief!" "You saw nothing?" "Nothing." "The train was almost empty." "Got in at Rouen?" " And slept throughout?" " Yes." "And where were you, Lantier?" " ln the corridor." " See anyone pass?" "Well, Inspector, I... er... I had a cinder in my eye." "It hurt me, so I didn't notice." "Grandmorin's been killed." "Well, he deserved it." "No more girls for him." " What d'you think?" " What about?" "About the crime." "So what!" "Won't keep us awake!" "I'll wash, have a mouthful and a kip." "Had a good day?" "You knowthe... station-master's wife?" "Séverine?" "is that her name?" "Her mother was friendly with my wife." "They were in service together at the Grandmorin's." "Why?" "Have you seen..." "Roubaud's wife?" "Yes, on the train." "A pretty woman... with style and education." "Not my type, but pretty." "Chance is an odd thing." "You speak of Grandmorin." "He was murdered on the train I took." "Stabbed with a knife..." "A nuisance we took his money and watch." "It's humiliating, but it'll save us." "They'll look for a thief." "What worries me is the letter." "Yes, my letter." "It must be in his office." "His secretary must have it..." "He'll hold it over us." "He wouldn't show it." "No, fear of scandal." "What'll happen?" "We'll go on living." "Grandmorin was an accident." "And I've eliminated the accident." "And Lantier?" "The way he spoke, he didn't see us." "I'm not so sure." " Why not burn the money?" " What?" " Better do it." " lt'd be a shame to do that." "I won't use them, but I respect them." "What is it?" "Lantier..." "We should be able to influence a boy like him." "Nice weather..." "Yes, it certainly is." "Mr Lantier, I want to ask you something very... confidential." "What is it?" "The other night... you told the inspector you'd seen no one go through the corridor." "Was it the truth?" "No." "I saw you and your husband." "Why didn't you say?" "You asked me not to." "I did not ask you anything!" "Oh yes, you did." "Not with words, but with your eyes." "Think I'm guilty?" "Yes." "You are wrong. I am not guilty." "I know it looks suspicious... lt's better not to speak of it, but it was a coincidence." "Nothing but a coincidence." "You believe me?" "Do you believe me?" "You'll not do me harm?" "Listen, only I saw you." "No one will know." "You can count on me..." "Absolutely." "Let go of my hands and don't look at me like that." "Practically, therefore... if anyone went in to Mr Grandmorin you'd have seen him." "Certainly!" "And you saw no one?" "No, Your Worship." "Well, thank you, Mr Lantier." "Bring in Cabuche." "Everything all right?" "Well, yes." "What did they ask?" "Like the other day..." "if I'd seen anything." "Well?" "I told them I'd seen nothing." "You knew Mr Grandmorin?" "Oh yes..." "I knew him only too well." "A girl, Louisette, was employed by him and she was your mistress." "Good God!" "That's a damned lie." "Louisette was not my mistress." "You are violent." "You've already done five years for killing a man in a fight." "He hit me first." "And I didn't do five years..." "only four." "One year's remission." "You say the girl Louisette was not your mistress?" "Listen, Your Worship... she was only a kid when I came out of prison." "The people in the village despised me." "They hated me." "But she said good morning to me and smiled at me." "She was so sweet, Your Worship..." "We became good friends." "In the summer we looked for strawberries together." "In the autumn we gathered chestnuts." "We went hand in hand through the forest together." "It was wonderful, Your Worship." "But nothing never happened..." "It might have, but it didn't." "She was growing up, you understand, and taking shape..." "I liked her and she liked me." "And they took her away to work at Mr Grandmorin's house." "One evening I found her at my door." "I had a hut in the woods." "She was in such a state, Your Worship." "She had a fever and didn't dare go home." "She came to die in my arms." "I ought to have cut the pig's throat!" "You've no right to make accusations." "is the warrant ready?" "This waiting about is terrible." "But most of the witnesses are passengers." "People not on the line." " Better like that." " Much better." "They're interrogating Cabuche." "Well, now we know... that no one came from the other side." "On your side there was only you who had anything against him." "So own up... you killed him?" "I told you it wasn't me." "What is this nonsense!" "I say it was you." "Take him away." "It wasn't me!" "Leave me alone!" "It wasn't me!" "What worries me is this Cabuche business." "I know Cabuche." "He can't be guilty." "If he's condemned, I'll have to... do something, for he's not guilty." "is that you?" "Yes, when I was little with my godfather." "Mr Grandmorin?" "My wife's not got over this business yet." "Come and see us more often." "A nice friendly meal is better than the canteen and we like it." "Very nice of you." " Well, so long." " So long, madam." "You still call her madam!" "I'll go and see." "Good-bye, Séverine." "Good-bye, Jacques." "Oh, lipstick!" "I'm sorry." "What errand?" "Some embroidery from my sister." "Embroidery!" "Making fun of me?" "Embroidery?" "What's all this?" "I asked Henriette Dauvergne for it." "I'll give you embroidery." "Don't you think I know what he came for?" "Run along!" "Get out of here." "I'm sorry, Madame Roubaud, if I'd known..." "And see he doesn't come back again." "I knowthese fellows who run after men's wives on any excuse." "Makes my blood boil." "I'd strangle my wife." "Calm down, Roubaud." "Sorry, old man." "I know you'd throw him out yourself." "I'm not thinking of you." "Another little drink." "No, thanks. I must go." "Don't be angry with me, Séverine." "I love you, you see." "Kiss me." "No, never again, you hear?" "When I see your face over mine I'm frightened." "I remember the train." "You were right when you said... I've not got over it." "I never will." "I can't forget either." "But if we can't..." "it will be terrible in this house, the two of us." "I'm going out." "Where to?" "The café." "I'll go and see the lads." "They go there..." "Why shouldn't I?" "Sorry, Séverine." "What was the matter with Roubaud?" "He's just nervous, that's all." "He's not cruel, is he?" "No." "I say... you know, Séverine." "You can't stay here." "Why not come with me?" "I love you." "You love me?" "I've loved you for weeks." "So why not come along with me?" " You love me?" " Yes." " lt's terrible." " Why?" " You mustn't..." " Why not?" " You mustn't love me." " Why not?" "I cannot love anybody." "So you'll never love me?" "I love you as much as I can love anyone." "Don't be angry." "I've never been happy." "My childhood was frightful." "And I'm afraid." "What I want is not a lover but... a good friend whom I can trust with my hopes and fears." "I need kindness." "I can give it too... but not love." "Don't think of it." "I understand you." "It's probably better that way." "I could tell you a thing or two as well." "It's better that way." "So we're just good friends." "Funny your name for her..." "Lison." "You don't give your love a number." " Can I get in?" " You'll get dirty." " No matter!" " Wait a sec." "Be careful... it's all oil and coal." "It's hot." "Well, she eats coal." "How complicated!" "A matter of habit." "She's pretty, eh?" "The best loco on the line." "You love your loco, eh?" " We've been through things." " So many things?" "On the line, we see everything and know everything." " At that speed?" " Of course." "We followthe seasons..." "the leaves on the trees grow and then fall." "In the fields we see rabbits." "We can see their little ears in the grass." "They watch us pass." "They know we'll do them no harm." "It's funny..." "When I look out of the window, I see nothing." "You don't know howto look." "My hands!" "They're quite black!" "Give them me." "I must go home." " You will come again?" " Yes, Jacques." "I'll pay you to-morrow." "Unlucky." "Yes, I'm unlucky." " So long." " So long, Cauche." "Got a partridge?" "A lot were flying low." "This one stuck on the boiler." " You went to get it?" " At full speed!" "Yes, we all do it." "Never been an accident but..." "Don't you like partridge?" "No, I come out in spots." "The other day with us, it wasn't a partridge... but a cow, eh, Lantier?" "Brought it back?" "Good Lord, it flew 10 yards through the air." "Lucky we didn't run over it." "We'd have jumped the rails." "Cow's meat is as tough as old boots!" "Not eating?" "No, take my dinner pail." "Don't mind if I do." " Going to your date?" " Yes." " Think she'll come?" " Perhaps." "Women are like cats." "Don't like wet feet." "What d'you know about women?" "Oh, I just guess." "Anyhow, I mistrust women who've no children." "And Philoméne and Victoire?" "They've no children." "They'll come." "I've children everywhere." "I've one in high school at Le Havre." "He'll go to Polytechnique." "Good for Polytechnique." " You were waiting?" " Yes, I was waiting." "I love you, Jacques." "It's really true?" " l must tell you..." " No, say nothing." " Home late." " You too." "Yes..." "I've been on duty." "Well, good-night." "Thief!" "It's my business, not yours." "I don't understand you." "You used to be an honest man." "I must go outside for my amusement... as you don't love me." "No, I certainly don't." "Well, leave me in peace." "Do I interfere?" "Do I judge you?" "Give your lover this watch." "But Grandmorin's name is on it, so look out." " You thief." " Want to share?" "Why not share?" "We are bound together by Grandmorin's death." "Even if you run away with Lantier you'll come back to me one day." "Oh, how nice of you to think of it." "Are you hungry?" "Starving!" " Cold chicken?" " No, stay with me." "Oh!" "Malaga!" "If only I could, I'd love to stay with you." "Well, what's stopping you?" "You don't know, darling!" "You don't know... you don't know." "Yes, I do..." "He killed Grandmorin." "It was here in this very room it began." "All over a ring..." "a present from Grandmorin." "Grandmorin?" "Oh, how he treated me!" "Punched me... knocked me down... pulled me by the hair... and beat me... beat me." "I saw his heel over my face about to crush it." "I'll never forget it." "He was mad with jealousy." "Will you stop loving me because of that?" "Now you know?" "Stop loving you?" "Why?" "Your past is your affair!" "You're Roubaud's wife." "You may have had others." "But... odd to think... you were that old man's mistress." "I find it odd." "But I've never loved anyone but you." "If you only knew..." "But wait a minute..." "The old man..." "Yes, he killed him!" "Yes, but didn't you... help him to do it?" "No, but I saw!" "You saw it?" "Yes, it happened in a tunnel." "The noise was terrible." "My blood runs cold even now." "So you saw." "But tell me... how did he do it?" " With a knife I gave him." " With a knife?" "How many times did he stab him?" "Once." "How did you feel when you saw him die, stabbed in the heart?" "I don't know!" "Why tell lies?" "Tell me..." "Tell me honestly." "It was frightful!" "I lived my whole life in that minute." "What is it?" "Nothing... nothing." "You frighten me." "Love me, darling, because... only that can make me forget." "I love you, Séverine." "I swear it." "Don't be afraid." "Love me too..." "I need your love." "Trouble?" "Tell me." "No, just imaginary things... just waves of sadness that I can't speak of." "If only I were free, without a husband..." "We could forget." "We can't kill him." "Yesterday a truck almost hit him." "I was nearly free." "We're here to-day and gone to-morrow." " Did I frighten you?" " No, I expected you." "He'll come here." "He came upstairs... and took his revolver." "He's going on his rounds." "Come along." "Last night some thieves stole some lead piping... over there." "He'll come here." "Hear that noise?" "Was that a shout?" "No, it was just a truck being shunted." "In that truck, someone's moving." "Nonsense!" "It's just rats." "Full of rats here." "There he is!" "Where?" "He's by that shed over there." "He's coming this way." "I can see his shadow on the wall." " Alone?" " Yes, alone." "I can't do it." "I can't!" "Your hammer for the smoke box." "Well, so you won't see her again?" "Everything comes to an end." "Why complain?" "You had some good times." "It's best when you're still on your best behaviour." "Take me..." "I can't stand dances, but she loves them, so I brought her just to be nice to her." "Anyhow, I owe her that." "Her brother found us together in bed." "I just got away in my shirt." "And he beat her up." "Do you understand that?" "I don't." "Not even his wife... his sister!" "What harm can it do him?" "Poor kid!" "Look at Madame Roubaud's dress!" "Like a princess." "Well, for a station-master's wife!" "is there anything in it?" "With him?" "No, not yet." "He kissed my hand, not even my lips." " He loves you?" " Yes." "I even tried to imagine I loved him... and to begin again." "Something better... and sweeter." "Without pleasure... or pain." "I tell you this frankly." "I'm sure you believe me." "We now have no reason to lie to each other." "Our road is closed." "We can go no further." "But with you there is no hope." "To-morrow will be just like to-day." "The same pain and suffering..." "Well, come what will... I can only drag out my life.... until Roubaud kills me." "For that's what he will do one day." "I see the way he looks at me." "Leave him." "Come and live with me." "Come and forget the crime." "He'd find me again." "He told me so, and I believe him." "So many things bind us together till death." " Want to dance?" " No." "I'll go home." "Why?" "Plenty of other partners for you." "He's waiting there." "This evening I wanted to dance with you." "Good-night." "Won't you dance with her?" "I tread on their toes." "They get angry." "What is it?" "Not feeling well?" "We'd have done better to be friends without being lovers." "Remember our happy walks doing nothing?" "They made me forget." "Anyone who's experienced what I did as a girl is mad to try and find love like others." "You'll forget it all." "Every night I dream that we are together, far away and I have a job and we have a little house and I come home after work, take you in my arms and kiss you and then we make love" "and no one can say a thing." "That way... we'd soon forget." "No, Jacques." "They'd know it was you who had done it." " l wouldn't see you again." " Nonsense!" "They'd say suicide." "He's so peculiar now, they'd be sure of it." "There he is!" "Yes, that's him." "Come here!" "Kiss me... with all your heart and soul." "Jacques, what's the matter?" "Why me, Jacques?" "Let's go home." "No." "You don't like it." "Don't you like it?" "You wanted to come." "And Lantier may come back." "We can wait five minutes." "Ninette's little heart... I tell you in confidence... is open to everyone who wants it... but is never given." "Too bad for anyone who tries... to make love to her." "He who wants to love Ninette... will have to suffer." "Ninon's little heart... is so gentle and fragile... lt's a little butterfly..." "Ninon's little heart." "It's so tender and sweet." "If the sweet girl is not easy to handle... it's not by any means the fault" "of Ninon's little heart..." "What's he up to?" "First time he's ever been late." " Who?" " Lantier!" "Jacques... of the Batignolles depot." "Don't you know Jacques Lantier?" "What's up?" "Not feeling well?" "I'm O.K." "I've done your work." "Here are your overalls." "Hurry up!" "We're only two minutes." "Let's have your way bill." "520 tons." "Not been to bed?" "Seen her again?" "So it goes on?" "I want to tell you something, but... don't speak... don't move." "I've killed her." "Yes, killed her." "Now I'll never see her again." "And I'll die of it." "I know I shall." "I'll never hold her in my arms again." "I loved her." "I loved her little hands." "I don't understand... why I haven't been arrested." "Well, in your place, I think I'd give myself up." "I'd tell them everything about how it all happened." "They'll understand." "I do, anyhow." "I can't go on..." "I can't go on." "Poor old chap... he must have suffered..." "First time I've see this face so calm." "We must clear the line." "Take the train on till the station." "I'll stay with him."