2/9 She was more motionless, more impenetrable, more peaceful than ever. She did not seem to trouble herself in the least about Laurent. She barely looked at him, rarely exchanged a word with him, treating him with perfect indifference. Madame Raquin, who in her goodness of heart, felt pained at this attitude, sometimes said to the young man: "Do not pay attention to the manner of my niece, I know her; her face appears cold, but her heart is warm with tenderness and devotedness." The two sweethearts had no more meetings. Since the evening in the Rue Saint-Victor they had not met alone. |