Then ensued atrocious scenes of choking, blows, abominable cries, shameless brutalities.

As a rule, Therese and Laurent became exasperated, in this manner, after the evening meal.

They shut themselves up in the dining-room, so that the sound of their despair should not be heard.

There, they could devour one another at ease.

At the end of this damp apartment, of this sort of vault, lighted by the yellow beams of the lamp, the tone of their voices took harrowing sharpness, amidst the silence and tranquillity of the atmosphere.