Gracious goodness, that woman had a fine cheek to go playing the lady--yes, the lady in the dustbin! She now felt sure she had met her at the Papillon, a wretched public-house ball in the Rue des Poissonniers, where men conquered her scruples for thirty sous.

And to think a thing like that got hold of important functionaries with her modest looks! And to think she refused suppers to which one did her the honor of inviting her because, forsooth, she was playing the virtuous game! Oh yes, she'd get virtued! It was always those conceited prudes who went the most fearful lengths in low corners nobody knew anything about.
Revolving these matters, Nana at length reached her home in the Rue Veron and was taken aback on observing a light in the window.

Fontan had come home in a sulk, for he, too, had been deserted by the friend who had been dining with him.

He listened coldly to her explanations while she trembled lest he should strike her.

It scared her to find him at home, seeing that she had not expected him before one in the morning, and she told him a fib and confessed that she had certainly spent six francs, but in Mme Maloir's society.