Zoe, do speak: explain to Monsieur--" The lady's maid, having brought a towel and a basin of water out of the dressing room, had for some moments past been rubbing the carpet in order to remove the bloodstains before they dried.
"Oh, monsieur," she declared, "Madame is utterly miserable!" Muffat was still stupefied; the tragedy had frozen him, and his imagination was full of the mother weeping for her sons.

He knew her greatness of heart and pictured her in her widow's weeds, withering solitarily away at Les Fondettes.

But Nana grew ever more despondent, for now the memory of Zizi lying stretched on the floor, with a red hole in his shirt, almost drove her senseless.
"He used to be such a darling, so sweet and caressing.

Oh, you know, my pet--I'm sorry if it vexes you--I loved that baby! I can't help saying so; the words must out.

Besides, now it ought not to hurt you at all.
He's gone.