With one word, perhaps, she would save him.

And three o'clock was striking when he entered the house in the Avenue de Villiers.
Toward noon a frightful piece of news had simply crushed Mme Hugon.
Philippe had been in prison since the evening of the previous day, accused of having stolen twelve thousand francs from the chest of his regiment.

For the last three months he had been withdrawing small sums therefrom in the hope of being able to repay them, while he had covered the deficit with false money.

Thanks to the negligence of the administrative committee, this fraud had been constantly successful.

The old lady, humbled utterly by her child's crime, had at once cried out in anger against Nana.