There was no affection displayed between the two, For example, the author Zola describes the couple going to bed at night: “The husband, constantly shivering with fever, would go to bed, while the young woman opened the window to close the shutters. She used to stay there for a few minutes, facing the great black wall with its crude rendering, which rose up and extended beyond the glass roof of the gallery. She would cast a vague glance at this wall and silently go to bed in her turn, with an air of contemptuous indifference (pg. 12).” Also, Camille appears to have never felt any sexual needs especially towards Therese: “Camille’s blood had be impoverished by illness and he felt none of the urgent desires of adolescences. With his cousin, he
