And they pushed back the tablecloth over the dirty plates.

But as Mme Maloir was herself going to take the cards out of a drawer in the sideboard, Nana remarked that before she sat down to her game it would be very nice of her if she would write her a letter.

It bored Nana to write letters; besides, she was not sure of her spelling, while her old friend could turn out the most feeling epistles.

She ran to fetch some good note paper in her bedroom.

An inkstand consisting of a bottle of ink worth about three sous stood untidily on one of the pieces of furniture, with a pen deep in rust beside it.