He had been obliged to come home instead of returning to the forge, and he had gone to lie down on his bed to get a rest.

Madame Goujet talked gravely, wearing her black dress as usual and her white face framed in her nun-like coif.

The pay at the forge had been cut again.

It was now only seven francs a day because the machines did so much of the work.

This forced her to save money every way she could.