Germinal - Emile Zola [33]
But the merriment ceased as La Mouquette began to tell Maheu how Fleurance, the tall Fleurance, would not be coming any more: they’d found her stone dead in her bed the night before. Some said she’d died of a heart condition, others of downing a litre of gin too fast. Maheu was in despair. More bad luck! Now he’d lost one of his putters and there was no way of finding an immediate replacement! He worked on a subcontracted basis, and four of them worked the seam together, himself, Zacharie, Levaque and Chaval. If there was only Catherine to put the tubs, their rate of production would be affected. Suddenly he shouted:
‘Wait a minute! What about that fellow that was looking for work?’
At that moment Dansaert was passing the changing-room. Maheu told him what had happened and asked permission to take the man on; and he played on the fact that the Company was keen to replace the female putters with lads, like at Anzin. The overman smiled at this, since normally the policy of excluding women from working below the surface was anathema to the miners, who worried about their daughters finding a job and didn’t much care about questions of hygiene or morality. Eventually, after some hesitation, he gave his permission, but on condition that this had to be ratified by the engineer, M. Négrel.
‘Anyway,’ said Zacharie, ‘at the rate he was going, he’ll be miles away by now.’
‘No,’ said Catherine, ‘I saw him stop at the boilers.’
‘What are you standing there for, then? Go and fetch him!’ Maheu shouted.
The girl shot off as a sea of miners moved up towards the shaft and left the fire clear for others. Without waiting for his father, Jeanlin moved away also to go and fetch his lamp, along with Bébert, a big immature lad, and Lydie, a puny little girl of ten. Ahead of them La Mouquette could be heard protesting loudly in the dark staircase, calling them filthy brats and threatening to give them a slap in the face if they pinched her again.
Sure enough, Étienne was in the boiler-house talking to the stoker as he shovelled coal into the grates. It made him feel very cold to think of the black night into which he now had to return. Nevertheless he was on the point of resolving to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
‘Come with me,’ said Catherine. ‘There is something for you.’
At first he did not understand. Then he was overwhelmed with joy and energetically clasped the girl’s hands.
‘Thanks, comrade…You’re a decent bugger!’
She began to laugh, gazing at him in the red light gleaming from the grates. She found it amusing that he should take her for a boy, with her slim figure and her bun hidden under her cap. He, too, laughed happily; and they remained like that for a moment, laughing together, face to face, their cheeks flushed.
In the changing-room Maheu was crouched in front of his locker taking off his clogs and his thick woollen stockings. When Étienne arrived, everything was quickly settled: thirty sous a day, it was tiring work but he’d soon get the hang of it. Maheu advised him to keep his shoes on, and he lent him an old leather skullcap designed to protect the top of the head, a precaution which both father and children nevertheless scorned to adopt. They took their tools from the locker, which also contained Fleurance’s shovel. Then, after Maheu had locked away their clogs and stockings, as well as Étienne’s bundle, he grew suddenly impatient:
‘But where the hell’s that animal Chaval got to now? Screwing some girl on a pile of spoil somewhere, I’ll bet…We’re half an hour late today.’
Zacharie and Levaque were quietly toasting their backs. Eventually the former said:
‘You’re not waiting for Chaval, are you?…He got here before we did and went straight down.’
‘What? You knew and didn’t say anything?…Come on, come on, let’s get going then.’
Catherine, who was warming her hands, was obliged to follow the group. Étienne let her pass and then climbed the steps behind