I heard a tremendous blow." But Gervaise wanted to go home.

She made no reply to the pitying remarks and noisy ovation of the other women who surrounded her, erect in their aprons.

When she was laden she gained the door, where the children awaited her.
"Two hours, that makes two sous," said the mistress of the wash-house, already back at her post in the glazed closet.
Why two sous?
She no longer understood that she was asked to pay for her place there.

Then she gave the two sous; and limping very much beneath the weight of the wet clothes on her shoulder, the water dripping from off her, her elbow black and blue, her cheek covered with blood, she went off, dragging Claude and Etienne with her bare arms, whilst they trotted along on either side of her, still trembling, and their faces besmeared with their tears.
Once she was gone, the wash-house resumed its roaring tumult.

The washerwomen had eaten their bread and drunk their wine.