That was not the time, therefore, to make disagreeable scenes, to prate about paternal authority and conjugal honor.

As for Madame Chebe, being somewhat less confident than before of her daughter's virtue, she took refuge in the most profound silence.

The poor woman wished that she were deaf and blind--that she never had known Mademoiselle Planus.
Like all persons who have been very unhappy, she loved a benumbed existence with a semblance of tranquillity, and ignorance seemed to her preferable to everything.

As if life were not sad enough, good heavens! And then, after all, Sidonie had always been a good girl; why should she not be a good woman?
Night was falling.

M.Chebe rose gravely to close the shutters of the shop and light a gas-jet which illumined the bare walls, the empty, polished shelves, and the whole extraordinary place, which reminded one strongly of the day following a failure.