"This evening or to-morrow, when the others return, we'll settle accounts!" This allusion to the insurrectionary forces sent a shudder to the victors' very marrow; Rougon for his part almost choked.

His brother, who was exasperated at having been surprised like a child by these terrified bourgeois, who, old soldier that he was, he disdainfully looked upon as good-for-nothing civilians, defied him with a glance of the bitterest hatred.
"Ah! I can tell some pretty stories about you, very pretty ones!" the rascal exclaimed, without removing his eyes from the retired oil merchant.

"Just send me before the Assize Court, so that I may tell the judge a few tales that will make them laugh." At this Rougon turned pale.

He was terribly afraid lest Macquart should blab then and there, and ruin him in the esteem of the gentlemen who had just been assisting him to save Plassans.

These gentlemen, astounded by the dramatic encounter between the two brothers, and, foreseeing some stormy passages, had retired to a corner of the room.