What was going to happen to them now?
One evening in December they had no dinner at all.

There was not a radish left.

Lantier, who was very glum, went out early, wandering about in search of some other den where the smell of the kitchen would bring a smile to one's face.

He would now remain for hours beside the stove wrapt in thought.

Then, suddenly, he began to evince a great friendship for the Poissons.