She sank lower and lower; she missed going to her work oftener, spent whole days in gossiping, and became as soft as a rag whenever she had a task to perform.

If a thing fell from her hands, it might remain on the floor; it was certainly not she who would have stooped to pick it up.

She took her ease about everything, and never handled a broom except when the accumulation of filth almost brought her to the ground.

The Lorilleuxs now made a point of holding something to their noses whenever they passed her room; the stench was poisonous, said they.

Those hypocrites slyly lived at the end of the passage, out of the way of all these miseries which filled the corner of the house with whimpering, locking themselves in so as not to have to lend twenty sou pieces.