He wanted to marry me, and I said no, and he's killed himself!" Slowly Mme Hugon drew near--she was in black, and her face showed pale under her white hair.

In the carriage, as she drove thither, the thought of Georges had vanished and that of Philippe's misdoing had again taken complete possession of her.

It might be that this woman could afford explanations to the judges which would touch them, and so she conceived the project of begging her to bear witness in her son's favor.
Downstairs the doors of the house stood open, but as she mounted to the first floor her sick feet failed her, and she was hesitating as to which way to go when suddenly horror-stricken cries directed her.

Then upstairs she found a man lying on the floor with bloodstained shirt.

It was Georges--it was her other child.
Nana, in idiotic tones, kept saying: "He wanted to marry me, and I said no, and he's killed himself." Uttering no cry, Mme Hugon stooped down.