The Drinking Den by Emile Zola

Author:Emile Zola
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

‘Blavin am I, who seduces lovely women…’4

A thunderous chorus of ‘Bravo!’ greeted the first lines. Yes, yes, let’s have a singsong! Everyone would contribute; it was the most amusing thing of all. And the whole lot of them put their elbows on the table or leaned back against their chairs, nodding at the right place and raising their glasses to the chorus. Boche, the old devil, specialized in comic songs: he could have made the wine bottles chuckle, the way he imitated the soldier saluting with his fingers spread and his hat on the back of his head. He went straight from ‘The Volcano of Love’ into ‘The Baroness de Follebiche’, one of his party pieces. When he reached the third verse, he turned towards Clémence and murmured in a slow, seductive voice:

‘There were visitors at the baroness’s

Only the lady’s sisters four

One had blonde and three brown tresses

And all in all eight lovely eyes’

At this, the whole company was roused to join in the refrain. The men stamped their feet to mark time and the women, taking their knives and tapping rhythmically on their glasses, all shouted at the tops of their voices:

‘By Jove! Who will brew

A barrel of beer for the tru-u-u-ue, for the true

By Jove! Who will brew

A barrel of beer for the tru-u-u-ue, tru-u-u-ue,

for the troo-oo-oo-pers!’

The shop windows rattled and the great gust of breath from the singers blew up the net curtains. Meanwhile, Virginie had already vanished twice and returned, leaning over to whisper some news into Gervaise’s ear. The third time, when she came back, she said, in the midst of the hubbub:

‘My dear, he’s still at François’, pretending to read the paper… Of course, there must be something going on…’

She was talking about Lantier: he was the person she had been going to look for. At each new report, Gervaise’s mood darkened.

‘Is he drunk?’ she asked Virginie.

‘No,’ the big brunette answered. ‘He seems quite composed. That’s what’s so worrying, huh? What’s he doing in the pub if he’s quite calm and sober? Oh, my God, I hope nothing happens!’

The laundress was worried and begged her to keep quiet. Suddenly, there was a deep silence. Mme Putois had just got up and was singing: ‘All Aboard!’ The guests, silent and thoughtful, were watching her; even Poisson had put down his pipe on the edge of the table, so that he could listen. She was standing stiffly, small, fiery, the pallor of her face accentuated by her black bonnet, and she thrust her left fist forward with a convincing show of pride, growling, in a voice larger than she was:

‘Where’s the reckless privateer

That chases us afore the wind?

Woe betide the rash corsair!

No quarter for him or his kind!

Come, boys, come, and man the guns

And each will have his tot of rum!

The gibbet’s waiting, never fear,

For the pirate and the buccaneer!’

This was serious stuff. By heavens, it really gave you a feel of the thing! Poisson, who had been on a sea voyage, slowly nodded his head, to show approval of the details.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.