Salted-Mouth, otherwise Drink-without-Thirst, tried indeed to chuff; but it was no use, and ended by returning to his anvil, with his nose put out of joint.
Gervaise had squeezed up against Goujet, as though to get a better view.
Etienne having let go the bellows, the forge was once more becoming enveloped in shadow, like a brilliant red sunset suddenly giving way to black night.

And the blacksmith and the laundress experienced a sweet pleasure in feeling this gloom surround them in that shed black with soot and filings, and where an odor of old iron prevailed.

They could not have thought themselves more alone in the Bois de Vincennes had they met there in the depths of some copse.

He took her hand as though he had conquered her.
Outside, they scarcely exchanged a word.

All he could find to say was that she might have taken Etienne away with her, had it not been that there was still another half-hour's work to get through.