"It's my fault, you suffer through me! Listen, we will go very far
from here, where no one knows us, where everybody will greet you and
you shall be happy."

Only one thing does not come to their minds: to be married. When
Pascal's mother speaks to him about it, they do not listen to it. It
is not dictated to her by woman's modesty, to him by the care for her
and the desire to shelter her from insults. Why? Because Zola likes it
that way.

But perhaps he cares to show what tragical results are produced
by illegitimate marriages? Not at all. He shares the doctor's and
Clotilde's opinion. Were they married, there would be no drama, and
the author wishes to have it. That is the reason.

Then comes the doctor's insolvency. One must separate. This separation
becomes the misfortune of their lives: the doctor will die of it. Both
feel that it will not be the end, they do not wish it--and they do not
think of any means which would forever affirm their mutual dependence
and change the departure for only a momentary separation, but not for
eternal farewells: and they do not marry.

They did not have any religion, therefore they did not wish for any
priest; it is logical, but why did they not wish for a _maire_? The
question remains without an answer.

Here, besides lack of moral sense, there is something more, the lack
of common sense. The novel is not only immoral, but at the same time
it is a bad shanty, built of rotten pieces of wood, not holding
together, unable to suffer any contact with logic and common sense. In