Germinal

When La Maheude arrives home, she finds Alzire, having run out of sugar, trying to stop Estelle’s crying by offering her own breast. La Maheude is angry that Lénore and Henri have eaten all the brioche; Alzire tells her she doesn’t mind.

La Maheude visits La Pierronne to return some coffee she’d borrowed. La Pierronne is young and beautiful, and she and her husband Pierron have a happy marriage “despite all the stories and gossip” (101) about La Pierronne sleeping with the overman Dansaert, who helps them financially. Her house is immaculate, and she makes money selling sweets, resulting in the family never having any debt. The two women have coffee while gossiping about La Levaque and her affair with their lodger Bouteloup. La Pierronne suggests Zacharie and Philomène Levaque get married, though La Maheude is against this idea because it would mean the Maheus would lose Zacharie’s earnings.

On her walk back home, La Maheude encounters La Levaque, who invites her inside. La Levaque says Pierron lets his wife sleep with the overman and that “[s]ome men were so ambitious they’d wipe their boss’s backside just to hear him say ‘thank you’” (105). They then discuss the possibility of Zacharie and Philomène marrying.