Then, after he had had something to eat, she gently turned him out of doors, making him understand that he must go through with the matter to the end.
At the town-hall, Rougon found only four members of the Commission in attendance; the others had sent excuses, they were really ill.

Panic had been sweeping through the town with growing violence all through the morning.

The gentlemen had not been able to keep quiet respecting the memorable night they had spent on the terrace of the Valqueyras mansion.
Their servants had hastened to spread the news, embellishing it with various dramatic details.

By this time it had already become a matter of history that from the heights of Plassans troops of cannibals had been seen dancing and devouring their prisoners.

Yes, bands of witches had circled hand in hand round their caldrons in which they were boiling children, while on and on marched endless files of bandits, whose weapons glittered in the moonlight.