Then suddenly, stupidly, like a cat with its legs entangled, he rolled and descended the slight slope of the roof without being able to grab hold of anything.
"_Mon Dieu_," he cried in a choked voice.
And he fell.

His body described a gentle curve, turned twice over on itself, and came smashing into the middle of the street with the dull thud of a bundle of clothes thrown from on high.
Gervaise, stupefied, her throat rent by one great cry, stood holding up her arms.

Some passers-by hastened to the spot; a crowd soon formed.
Madame Boche, utterly upset, her knees bending under her, took Nana in her arms, to hide her head and prevent her seeing.

Meanwhile, the little old woman opposite quietly closed her window, as though satisfied.
Four men ended by carrying Coupeau into a chemist's, at the corner of the Rue des Poissonniers; and he remained there on a blanket, in the middle of the shop, whist they sent to the Lariboisiere Hospital for a stretcher.

He was still breathing.
Gervaise, sobbing, was kneeling on the floor beside him, her face smudged with tears, stunned and unseeing.