By nine o'clock the family were assembled in the shop, whose shutters had not been taken down. Lorilleux only remained for a few moments and then went back to his shop. Mme Lorilleux shed a few tears and then sent Nana to buy a pound of candles. "How like Gervaise!" she murmured. "She can do nothing in a proper way!" Mme Lerat went about among the neighbors to borrow a crucifix. She brought one so large that when it was laid on the breast of Mamma Coupeau the weight seemed to crush her. Then someone said something about holy water, so Nana was sent to the church with a bottle. The room assumed a new aspect. On a small table burned a candle, near it a glass of holy water in which was a branch of box. "Everything is in order," murmured the sisters; "people can come now as soon as they please." Lantier made his appearance about eleven. He had been to make inquiries in regard to funeral expenses. "The coffin," he said, "is twelve francs, and if you want a Mass, ten francs more. A hearse is paid for according to its ornaments." "You must remember," said Mme Lorilleux with compressed lips, "that Mamma must be buried according to her purse." "Precisely!" answered Lantier. "I only tell you this as your guide. Decide what you want, and after breakfast I will go and attend to it all." He spoke in a low voice, oppressed by the presence of the dead. The children were laughing in the courtyard and Nana singing loudly. Gervaise said gently: "We are not rich, to be sure, but we wish to do what she would have liked. If Mamma Coupeau has left us nothing it was not her fault and no reason why we should bury her as if she were a dog. No, there must be a Mass and a hearse." "And who will pay for it?" asked Mme Lorilleux. "We can't, for we lost much money last week, and I am quite sure you would find it hard work!" Coupeau, when he was consulted, shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of profound indifference. Mme Lerat said she would pay her share. "There are three of us," said Gervaise after a long calculation; "if we each pay thirty francs we can do it with decency." But Mme Lorilleux burst out furiously: "I will never consent to such folly. It is not that I care for the money, but I disapprove of the ostentation. You can do as you please." "Very well," replied Gervaise, "I will. I have taken care of your mother while she was living; I can bury her now that she is dead." Then Mme Lorilleux fell to crying, and Lantier had great trouble in preventing her from going away at once, and the quarrel grew so violent that Mme Lerat hastily closed the door of the room where the dead woman lay, as if she feared the noise would waken her. The children's voices rose shrill in the air with Nana's perpetual "Tra-la-la" above all the rest. "Heavens, how wearisome those children are with their songs," said Lantier. "Tell them to be quiet, and make Nana come in and sit down."