There was another pause.  The eyes of the three women were blinking as though the dazzling pile of gold was before them.  Presently La Sarriette began to laugh.

“What a jolly time I would have with Jules if my uncle would give that money to me!” said she.

Madame Lecoeur, however, seemed quite overwhelmed by this revelation, crushed beneath the weight of the gold which she could not banish from her sight.  Covetous envy thrilled her.  But at last, raising her skinny arms and shrivelled hands, her finger-nails still stuffed with butter, she stammered in a voice full of bitter distress:  “Oh, I mustn’t think of it!  It’s too dreadful!”

“Well, it would all be yours, you know, if anything were to happen to Monsieur Gavard,” retorted Mademoiselle Saget.  “If I were in your place, I would look after my interests.  That revolver means nothing good, you may depend upon it.  Monsieur Gavard has got into the hands of evil counsellors; and I’m afraid it will all end badly.”

Then the conversation again turned upon Florent.  The three women assailed him more violently than ever.  And afterwards, with perfect composure, they began to discuss what would be the result of all these dark goings-on so far as he and Gavard were concerned; certainly it would be no pleasant one if there was any gossiping.  And thereupon they swore that they themselves would never repeat a word of what they knew; not, however, because that scoundrel Florent merited any consideration, but because it was necessary, at all costs, to save that worthy Monsieur Gavard from being compromised.  Then they rose from their seats, and Mademoiselle Saget was burning as if to go away when the butter dealer asked her:  “All the same, in case of accident, do you think that Madame Leonce can be trusted?  I dare say she has the key of the cupboard.”

“Well, that’s more than I can tell you,” replied the old maid.  “I believe she’s a very honest woman; but, after all, there’s no telling.  There are circumstances, you know, which tempt the best of people.  Anyhow, I’ve warned you both; and you must do what you think proper.”

As the three women stood there, taking leave of each other, the odour of the cheeses seemed to become more pestilential than ever.  It was a cacophony of smells, ranging from the heavily oppressive odour of the Dutch cheeses and the Gruyeres to the alkaline pungency of the Olivets.  From the Cantal, the Cheshire, and the goats’ milk cheeses there seemed to come a deep breath like the sound of a bassoon, amidst which the sharp, sudden whiffs of the Neufchatels, the Troyes, and the Mont d’Ors contributed short, detached notes.  And then the different odours appeared to mingle one with another, the reek of the Limbourgs, the Port Saluts, the Geromes, the Marolles, the Livarots, and the Pont l’Eveques uniting in one general, overpowering stench sufficient to provoke asphyxia.  And yet it almost seemed as though it were not the cheeses but the vile words of Madame Lecoeur and Mademoiselle Saget that diffused this awful odour.