" Nowadays he was trusting
to the last relics of his personal dignity in order to remain "Monsieur"
among the servants and intimates of the house, the man, in fact, who
because he gave most was the official lover. And his passion grew
fiercer. He kept his position because he paid for it, buying even smiles
at a high price. He was even robbed and he never got his money's worth,
but a disease seemed to be gnawing his vitals from which he could not
prevent himself suffering. Whenever he entered Nana's bedroom he was
simply content to open the windows for a second or two in order to get
rid of the odors the others left behind them, the essential smells of
fair-haired men and dark, the smoke of cigars, of which the pungency
choked him. This bedroom was becoming a veritable thoroughfare, so
continually were boots wiped on its threshold. Yet never a man among
them was stopped by the bloodstain barring the door. Zoe was still
preoccupied by this stain; it was a simple mania with her, for she was
a clean girl, and it horrified her to see it always there. Despite
everything her eyes would wander in its direction, and she now never
entered Madame's room without remarking:
"It's strange that don't go.
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