The courtesans, as Vandeuvres used to say, avenged public morality by emptying his money bags. - Émile Zola

... there was a lack of equilibrium between her nerves and her blood, a disorder of the brain and heart which made her lead a life out of the ordinary, different from that of the rest of the world.

In reality, one single thought tormented them: they were irritated at their crime, and in despair at having for ever troubled their lives.

Why had he found her unattractive? Now that she was all black and her face covered in a thin layer of coal-dust, she had a strange charm.