The lady's maid at once espied the presents lying broken in
pieces on the table. She asked if she should put these things away,
and, Madame having bidden her get rid of them, she carried the whole
collection off in the folds of her dress. In the kitchen a sorting-out
process began, and Madame's debris were shared among the servants.
That day Georges had slipped into the house despite Nana's orders to the
contrary. Francois had certainly seen him pass, but the servants had
now got to laugh among themselves at their good lady's embarrassing
situations. He had just slipped as far as the little drawing room when
his brother's voice stopped him, and, as one powerless to tear himself
from the door, he overheard everything that went on within, the kisses,
the offer of marriage. A feeling of horror froze him, and he went away
in a state bordering on imbecility, feeling as though there were a great
void in his brain. It was only in his own room above his mother's flat
in the Rue Richelieu that his heart broke in a storm of furious sobs.
This time there could be no doubt about the state of things; a horrible
picture of Nana in Philippe's arms kept rising before his mind's eye. It
struck him in the light of an incest.
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