Then, the mother and the child having taken themselves off, he went back into the works with Mathieu, adding in his triumphant way:  “That youngster, you know, is as strong as an oak.  But women are always so nervous.  For my part, I’m quite easy in mind about him, as you can see.”  And with a laugh he concluded:  “When one has but one son, he keeps him.”

That same day, about an hour later, a terrible dispute which broke out between old Moineaud’s daughters, Norine and Euphrasie, threw the factory into a state of commotion.  Norine’s intrigue with Beauchene had ended in the usual way.  He had soon tired of the girl and betaken himself to some other passing fancy, leaving her to her tears, her shame, and all the consequences of her fault; for although it had hitherto been possible for her to conceal her condition from her parents, she was unable to deceive her sister, who was her constant companion.  The two girls were always bickering, and Norine had for some time lived in dread of scandal and exposure.  And that day the trouble came to a climax, beginning with a trivial dispute about a bit of glass-paper in the workroom, then developing into a furious exchange of coarse, insulting language, and culminating in a frantic outburst from Euphrasie, who shrieked to the assembled work-girls all that she knew about her sister.

There was an outrageous scene:  the sisters fought, clawing and scratching one another desperately, and could not be separated until Beauchene, Mathieu, and Morange, attracted by the extraordinary uproar, rushed into the workroom and restored a little order.  Fortunately for Beauchene, Euphrasie did not know the whole truth, and Norine, after giving her employer a humble, supplicating glance, kept silence; but old Moineaud was present, and the public revelation of his daughter’s shame sent him into a fury.  He ordered Norine out of the works forthwith, and threatened to throw her out of window should he find her at home when he returned there in the evening.  And Beauchene, both annoyed at the scandal and ashamed at being the primary cause of it, did not venture to interfere.  It was only after the unhappy Norine had rushed off sobbing that he found strength of mind to attempt to pacify the father, and assert his authority in the workroom by threatening to dismiss one and all of the girls if the slightest scandal, the slightest noise, should ever occur there again.

Mathieu was deeply pained by the scene, but kept his own counsel.  What most astonished him was the promptness with which Beauchene regained his self-possession as soon as Norine had fled, and the majesty with which he withdrew to his office after threatening the others and restoring order.  Another whom the scene had painfully affected was Morange, whom Mathieu, to his surprise, found ghastly pale, with trembling hands, as if indeed he had had some share of responsibility in this unhappy business.  But Morange, as he confided to Mathieu, was distressed for other reasons.