Germinal

Étienne wonders where Catherine should sleep, and the two contemplate their past attraction. She says being together would only cause more trouble; he laments that they “could have got on so well together” (414). She says he is “not missing much” (414). Étienne is broken-hearted when she suggests she’s at fault for not having gone through puberty yet and not being able to have a baby. They nearly kiss but lose their nerve. Catherine says she must return to Chaval or he will beat her, although most girls receive beatings. Dejected, Étienne walks her back to Montsou.

Back at Réquillart, Étienne sees a sentry on the spoil-heap. Suddenly Jeanlin, who had been crouching in wait, slits the sentry’s throat. Horrified, Étienne scrambles to the top to hit him and ask why he did that. Jeanlin says he “[j]ust felt like it” (418). Étienne is even more upset when he sees that the sentry was Jules; he remembers Jules staring at the horizon toward home and imagines his family waiting for him.

Étienne insists they bury the body in Réquillart; Jeanlin at first refuses, saying he’s meeting Lydie and Bébert, but eventually helps. They find a roadway that is barely held up by weak timbering; they lay the rifle beside the body, kick the timbering, and scramble out before the body is crushed.