dejection would have been. After dinner Morrel usually went out and used
to take his coffee at the Phocaean club, and read the Semaphore; this
day he did not leave the house, but returned to his office.
As to Cocles, he seemed completely bewildered. For part of the day he
went into the court-yard, seated himself on a stone with his head bare
and exposed to the blazing sun. Emmanuel tried to comfort the women, but
his eloquence faltered. The young man was too well acquainted with the
business of the house, not to feel that a great catastrophe hung over
the Morrel family. Night came, the two women had watched, hoping that
when he left his room Morrel would come to them, but they heard him pass
before their door, and trying to conceal the noise of his footsteps.
They listened; he went into his sleeping-room, and fastened the door
inside. Madame Morrel sent her daughter to bed, and half an hour after
Julie had retired, she rose, took off her shoes, and went stealthily
along the passage, to see through the keyhole what her husband was
doing. In the passage she saw a retreating shadow; it was Julie, who,
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