Caravan had expected some of those expressions that are said to "come from the heart," and when he saw how his news was received, he left the table, indignant at their calmness before their friend's sorrow, although at that moment he was so dazed with grief, that he hardly felt it, and went home. When he got in, his wife was waiting for him in her nightgown, and sitting in a low chair by the open window, still thinking of the inheritance. "Undress yourself," she said; "we will talk when we are in bed." He raised his head, and looking at the ceiling, he said: "But ... there is nobody up there." "I beg your pardon, Rosalie is with her, and you can go and take her place at three o'clock in the morning, when you have had some sleep." He only partially undressed, however, so as to be ready for anything that might happen, and after tying a silk handkerchief round his head, he joined his wife, who had just got in between the sheets, and for some time they remained side by side, and neither of them spoke. She was thinking. Even in bed, her night-cap was adorned with a red bow, and was pushed rather over one ear, as was the way with all the caps that she wore, and, presently, she turned towards him and said: "Do you know whether your mother made a will?" He hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "I ... I do not think so.... No, I am sure that she did not." His wife looked at him, and she said, in a low, furious voice: "I call that infamous; here we have been wearing ourselves out for ten years in looking after her, and have boarded and lodged her! Your sister would not have done so much for her, nor I either, if I had known how I was to be rewarded! Yes, it is a disgrace to her memory! I daresay that you will tell me that she paid us, but one cannot pay one's children in ready money for what they do; that obligation is recognized after death; at any rate, that is how honorable people act. So I have had all my worry and trouble for nothing! Oh, that is nice! that is very nice!" Poor Caravan, who felt nearly distracted, kept on saying: "My dear, my dear, please, please be quiet." She grew calmer by degrees, and, resuming her usual voice and manner, she continued: "We must let your sister know, to-morrow." He started, and said: "Of course, we must; I had forgotten all about it; I will send her a telegram the first thing in the morning." "No," she replied, like a woman who had foreseen everything; "no, do not send it before ten or eleven o'clock, so that we may have time to turn round before she comes. It does not take more than two hours to get here from Charenton, and we can say that you lost your head from grief. If we let her know in the course of the day, that will be soon enough, and will give us time to look round." But Caravan put his hand to his forehead, and, in the same timid voice in which he always spoke of his chief, the very thought of whom made him tremble, he said: "I must let them know at the office."