"And what are you doing here?" she said to Monsieur, in a tone of anger and supreme scorn. "Why are you here? How ridiculous you are, with your big puffy face, and in your shirt-tail! Do you think that will get us back our silver service? Come! shake yourself; stir yourself; try to understand. Go for the police, for the justice of the peace. Ought they not to have been here long ago? Oh! my God! what a man!" Monsieur, with bent back, started to go. She interrupted him: "And how is it that you heard nothing? What! they turn the house upside down, break in doors, force locks, empty walls and boxes, and you hear nothing? What are you good for, big blockhead?" Monsieur ventured to answer: "But you, too, my pet, you did not hear anything." "I? It is not the same thing. Is it not a man's business to hear? And besides, you provoke me. Clear out!" And, as Monsieur went up-stairs to dress, Madame turned her fury upon us. "And you? What are you doing, standing there like so many bundles, and looking at me? It is all the same to you, I suppose, whether your masters are plundered or not? And you too heard nothing? What luck! It is charming to have such servants. You think of nothing but eating and drinking, pack of brutes that you are!" Then, addressing Joseph directly, she asked: "Why didn't the dogs bark? Say, why not?" This question seemed to embarrass Joseph for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered himself. "I don't know, Madame," said he, in a most natural tone. "It is true that the dogs didn't bark. That is curious, indeed!" "Did you let them loose last night?" "Certainly I let them loose, as I do every night. That is curious! Yes, indeed! that is curious! It must be that the robbers knew the house ... and the dogs." "Well, Joseph, how is it that you, so devoted and punctual as a rule, did not hear anything?" "It is true that I heard nothing. That is another singular thing. For I do not sleep soundly. If a cat crosses the garden, I hear it. It is not natural, all the same. And those confounded dogs especially! Indeed, indeed!" Madame interrupted Joseph: "Stop! Leave me in peace. You are brutes, all of you! And Marianne. Where is Marianne? Why isn't she here? She is sleeping like a chump, undoubtedly." And, going out of the servants' hall, she called up the stairs: "Marianne! Marianne!" I looked at Joseph, who looked at the boxes. Joseph's face wore a grave expression. There was a sort of mystery in his eyes.