He thus held his son in a state of dependence, sometimes even looking upon the sweethearts whom the young carpenter courted as his own.

Several of Gervaise's friends used to come to the Macquarts' house, work-girls from sixteen to eighteen years of age, bold and boisterous girls who, on certain evenings, filled the room with youth and gaiety.

Poor Jean, deprived of all pleasure, ever kept at home by the lack of money, looked at these girls with longing eyes; but the childish life which he was compelled to lead had implanted invincible shyness in him; in playing with his sister's friends, he was hardly bold enough to touch them with the tips of his fingers.

Macquart used to shrug his shoulders with pity.
"What a simpleton!" he would mutter, with an air of ironical superiority.
And it was he who would kiss the girls, when his wife's back was turned.
He carried his attentions even further with a little laundress whom Jean pursued rather more earnestly than the others.

One fine evening he stole her almost from his arms.