Coupeau was suffering from pneumonia.
Gervaise did not worry herself, you may be sure.

At one time she would have been chopped into pieces before trusting her old man to the saw-bones.

After the accident in the Rue de la Nation she had spent their savings in nursing him.

But those beautiful sentiments don't last when men take to wallowing in the mire.

No, no; she did not intend to make a fuss like that again.