Perhaps he had been deceiving himself! He
continued:
"Then swear to me that you don't go to bed with my brother."
"Oh, you're beginning to bore me now!" said Nana, who had risen with
renewed impatience. "It's amusing for a little while, but when I tell
you I'm in a hurry--I go to bed with your brother if it pleases me. Are
you keeping me--are you paymaster here that you insist on my making a
report? Yes, I go to bed with your brother."
He had caught hold of her arm and squeezed it hard enough to break it as
he stuttered:
"Don't say that! Don't say that!"
With a slight blow she disengaged herself from his grasp.
"He's maltreating me now! Here's a young ruffian for you! My chicken,
you'll leave this jolly sharp. I used to keep you about out of niceness.
Yes, I did! You may stare! Did you think I was going to be your mamma
till I died? I've got better things to do than to bring up brats."
He listened to her stark with anguish, yet in utter submission. Her
every word cut him to the heart so sharply that he felt he should die.
She did not so much as notice his suffering and continued delightedly to
revenge herself on him for the annoyance of the morning.
"It's like your brother; he's another pretty Johnny, he is! He promised
me two hundred francs.
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