He had gulped down his soup and beef hurriedly to be able to wait for her.

All the while she chatted amiably, Gervaise kept looking out the window at the activity on the street.

It was now unusually crowded with the lunch time rush.
Everywhere were hurried steps, swinging arms, and pushing elbows.

Some late comers, hungry and angry at being kept extra long at the job, rushed across the street into the bakery.

They emerged with a loaf of bread and went three doors farther to the Two-Headed Calf to gobble down a six-sou meat dish.
Next door to the bakery was a grocer who sold fried potatoes and mussels cooked with parsley.