A week later Antoine occupied a large room in the old quarter, in which Felicite, exceeding her promises, had placed a bed, a table, and some chairs, on the young man formally undertaking not to molest them in future.  Adelaide felt no regret at her son leaving her; the short stay he had made with her had condemned her to bread and water for more than three months.  However, Antoine had soon eaten and drunk the two hundred francs he received from Pierre.  He never for a moment thought of investing them in some little business which would have helped him to live.  When he was again penniless, having no trade, and being, moreover, unwilling to work, he again sought to slip a hand into the Rougons’ purse.  Circumstances were not the same as before, however, and he failed to intimidate them.  Pierre even took advantage of this opportunity to turn him out, and forbade him ever to set foot in his house again.  It was of no avail for Antoine to repeat his former accusations.  The townspeople, who were acquainted with his brother’s munificence from the publicity which Felicite had given to it, declared him to be in the wrong, and called him a lazy, idle fellow.  Meantime his hunger was pressing.  He threatened to turn smuggler like his father, and perpetrate some crime which would dishonour his family.  At this the Rougons shrugged their shoulders; they knew he was too much of a coward to risk his neck.  At last, blindly enraged against his relatives in particular and society in general, Antoine made up his mind to seek some work.

In a tavern of the Faubourg he made the acquaintance of a basket-maker who worked at home.  He offered to help him.  In a short time he learnt to plait baskets and hampers—­a coarse and poorly-paid kind of labour which finds a ready market.  He was very soon able to work on his own account.  This trade pleased him, as it was not over laborious.  He could still indulge his idleness, and that was what he chiefly cared for.  He would only take to his work when he could no longer do otherwise; then he would hurriedly plait a dozen baskets and go and sell them in the market.  As long as the money lasted he lounged about, visiting all the taverns and digesting his drink in the sunshine.  Then, when he had fasted a whole day, he would once more take up his osier with a low growl and revile the wealthy who lived in idleness.  The trade of a basket-maker, when followed in such a manner, is a thankless one.  Antoine’s work would not have sufficed to pay for his drinking bouts if he had not contrived a means of procuring his osier at low cost.  He never bought any at Plassans, but used to say that he went each month to purchase a stock at a neighbouring town, where he pretended it was sold cheaper.  The truth, however, was that he supplied himself from the osier-grounds of the Viorne on dark nights.  A rural policeman even caught him once in the very act, and Antoine underwent a few days’ imprisonment in consequence.  It was from that time forward that he posed in the town as a fierce Republican.  He declared that he had been quietly smoking his pipe by the riverside when the rural policeman arrested him.  And he added:  “They would like to get me out of the way because they know what my opinions are.  But I’m not afraid of them, those rich scoundrels.”