For a quarter of an hour she remained standing erect.

Men hurried by without even turning their heads.

Then she moved about in her turn, and venturing to accost a man who was whistling with his hands in his pockets, she murmured, in a strangled voice: "Sir, listen a moment--" The man gave her a side glance and then went off, whistling all the louder.
Gervaise grew bolder, and, with her stomach empty, she became absorbed in this chase, fiercely rushing after her dinner, which was still running away.

She walked about for a long while, without thinking of the flight of time or of the direction she took.

Around her the dark, mute women went to and fro under the trees like wild beasts in a cage.