Then he related that he had spent more than twenty thousand francs in fitting up his premises in the Rue de la Paix.

Gervaise, with her woman's obstinacy, kept repeating an argument which she considered unanswerable.
He would repaper a lodging, would he not?
Then, why did he not treat the shop the same as a lodging?
She did not ask him for anything else--only to whitewash the ceiling, and put some fresh paper on the walls.
Boche, all this while, remained dignified and impenetrable; he turned about and looked up in the air, without expressing an opinion.

Coupeau winked at him in vain; he affected not to wish to take advantage of his great influence over the landlord.

He ended, however, by making a slight grimace--a little smile accompanied by a nod of the head.

Just then Monsieur Marescot, exasperated, and seemingly very unhappy, and clutching his fingers like a miser being despoiled of his gold, was giving way to Gervaise, promising to do the ceiling and repaper the shop on condition that she paid for half of the paper.