PDF Routledge Handbook of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Paolo Gardoni Ebook Full Chapter
PDF Routledge Handbook of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Paolo Gardoni Ebook Full Chapter
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Routledge Handbook
of Sustainable and
Resilient Infrastructure
To best serve current and future generations, infrastructure needs to be resilient to the changing
world while using limited resources in a sustainable manner. Research on and funding towards
sustainability and resilience are growing rapidly, and significant research is being carried out at a
number of institutions and centers worldwide.
This handbook brings together current research on sustainable and resilient infrastructure
and, in particular, stresses the fundamental nexus between sustainability and resilience. It aims to
coalesce work from a large and diverse group of contributors across a wide range of disciplines
including engineering, technology and informatics, urban planning, public policy, economics,
and finance. Not only does it present a theoretical formulation of sustainability and resilience
but it also demonstrates how these ideals can be realized in practice. This work will provide a
reference text to students and scholars of a number of disciplines.
Paolo Gardoni is a Professor and Excellence Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the
founder and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure.
Routledge Handbook
of Sustainable and
Resilient Infrastructure
PART I
Introduction 1
PART II
Situating and motivating sustainability and resilience 13
vii
Contents
PART III
Resilience of different systems 113
Buildings 113
16 Risk and life cycle cost based asset management framework for
aging water supply system 296
Solomon Tesfamariam, Golam Kabir, and Rehan Sadiq
viii
Contents
PART IV
Sustainable materials, design, and construction 375
21 The need for standardized testing for service life prediction of reinforced
concrete: Ensuring sustainable systems 387
David Trejo
PART V
Merging sustainability and resilience 417
PART VI
The role of dependencies/interdependencies 465
ix
Contents
Part VII
The role and impact of aging and deterioration, and life-cycle analysis 553
PART VIII
The role and impact of climate change 603
x
Contents
PART IX
Smart cities and the role of information and communication technology
in achieving sustainability and resilience 683
PART X
Multi-objective optimization 747
PART XI
The role of urban planning and public policies 789
PART XII
Economic considerations and the role of insurance and re-insurance 825
xi
Contents
44 CAT bond pricing and coverage design against natural perils 866
Lorenzo Hofer, Paolo Gardoni, and Mariano Angelo Zanini
Index 889
xii
Figures
xiii
Figures
5.3 Damage in Christchurch Central Business District: (a) store front a week
after the earthquake; (b) fenced-off commercial area two years after the
earthquake. 77
5.4 Functionality curve and resilience. 80
5.5 Resilience index calculated following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, in
Japan: (left) regional resilience indices; (right) resilience curves for various
utilities. 81
5.6 Non-linearity of resilience concept: (a) area of 200 days-percent,
corresponding to two days of 100% loss of functionality; (b) area of
200 days-percent, corresponding to 20 days of 10% loss of functionality. 82
5.7 Probability that response exceeds limit space: (a) non-structural limit
states reached prior to structural limit states; (b) different sequence of
limit states. 83
5.8 Case of non-linear structural seismic response: (a) improvement in
structural resilience as structure is repaired over time; (b) corresponding
reduction in probability of structural losses; (c) increased resiliency to
above pre-earthquake condition; (d) corresponding improvement in
probability of structural losses. 84
5.9 Close-up view of replaceable link in an eccentrically braced frame. 85
5.10 Schematic representation of time dependent community
functionality maps. 86
5.11 Damage to low-r ise building in Santa Cruz, California, due to collapsed
parapet from adjacent building, from 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. 88
5.A.1 Clown doctors of New Zealand: (a) Encounter in Christchurch Central
Business District following Feb. 22, 2011, earthquake; (b) official badge. 91
6.1 The concept of a tiered de-aggregation framework. 98
6.2 Tornado scenario (TS) simulation using MCS: (left) footprint of one TS;
(right) the spatial region for tornado path simulation. 101
6.3 95th percentile of DLREF5 as a function of community area (AC). 104
6.4 Illustration of de-aggregation, demonstrating the relation between
(left) the cluster resilience goals and (right) the target building
fragility functions. 106
6.5 The trade-off between λR1 and ΔλR for Code level 3 –
continued use. 107
6.6 Target fragility functions for the three code levels. 108
7.1 Flowchart of developing fragility curves. 117
7.2 Building-level fragility curves for the wood-frame building archetype 1
in Masoomi et al. (2018a): (a) archetype 1 with single H2.5 hurricane
clip as roof-to-wall connections and (b) Archetype 1 with double H2.5
hurricane clip as roof-to-wall connections. 120
7.3 19 archetype buildings in the city of Joplin and the actual tornado
path and EF zones. 122
7.4 Fragility curves for the four damage states of (a) Slight, (b) Moderate,
(c) Extensive and (d) Complete for the 19 archetype buildings. 124
xiv
Figures
7.5 Probability of reaching damage state Slight for the buildings of Joplin
community. 125
7.6 Probability of reaching damage state Moderate for the buildings of
Joplin community. 126
7.7 Probability of reaching damage state Extensive for the buildings of Joplin
community. 127
7.8 Probability of reaching damage state Complete for the buildings of Joplin
community. 128
7.9 Tornado paths of the April 25–28, 2011 outbreak. 130
8.1 Schematic diagram illustrating the computational environment necessary
for modeling interdependencies between different simulators of critical
systems. 135
8.2 Flowchart of vulnerability model. 137
8.3 Balanced gradient wind in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. 138
8.4 The eight nominal wind directions. 141
8.5 Windborne debris types as in Wills, et al. 2002. 142
8.6 Functionality curves: (a) average prepared community; (b) not well
prepared community; (c) well prepared community. 144
8.7 Schematic for distributed computing applied to model interdependencies
required to quantify community resilience. 146
8.8 Plan view of a virtual residential community. 147
8.9 Plan view of the storm track passing by the residential community. 148
8.10 Probability of damage (PD) due to external wind pressure on each
component of a residential neighborhood due to a Category 5 hurricane.
Nomenclature: door (D); garage door (G-D); roof cover (R-C); roof
sheathing (R-Sh); windows (W); and wall sheathing (W-Sh). 148
9.1 The organization of the chapter. 154
9.2 Functionality states of individual buildings. 155
9.3 Flowchart of community-wide probabilistic pre-recovery damage and
functionality loss assessment. 157
9.4 Mapping from building damage and utility availability to building
functionality states. 158
9.5 Flowchart of the MCS for building portfolio functionality loss estimate. 160
9.6 Schematic representation of building portfolio recovery. 161
9.7 Flowchart of the two-step portfolio functionality recovery modeling. 161
9.8 Discrete state, continuous time Markov Chain S(t) (for buildings with
S(t0) = S1). 162
9.9 Illustration of building restoration function (BRF) of an individual
building. 164
9.10 An illustration of the general restoration process of individual
buildings. 165
9.11 Illustration of the mean trajectory of the building portfolio recovery. 169
9.12 Centerville (a) zoning map; (b) building portfolio. 170
xv
Figures
9.13 Spatial variation in the mean damage state of (a) structural components
(SD); (b) non-structural drift-sensitive (ND); (c) acceleration-sensitive
components (NA); and (d) the mean initial functionality state at t0. 174
9.14 Probability assessment of (a) building-level pre-repair functionality state
PMF, πn (t0), (illustrated using W2 in Zone 4) and (b) portfolio-level
pre-recovery functionality index, PRIj (t0). 175
9.15 Illustration of building-level restoration: (a) conditional mean restoration
process; (b) the building restoration function, BRF (both illustrated using
W2 building in Zone 4 as an example). 175
9.16 An illustration of (a) uncertainty in the portfolio recovery trajectory; and
(b) the mean recovery trajectory for each of the seven residential zones
(Zone1-Zone7). 176
9.17 Spatial variation of functionality recovery at (a) t0=0; (b) 30 weeks;
(c) 60 weeks; (d) 90 weeks following the hazard occurrence. 177
10.1 Population distribution in Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. Circles
represent historical tsunami triggered by seismic events. 181
10.2 Earthquake-tsunami hazard and risk along coasts in a subduction area. 181
10.3 Computational framework for probabilistic earthquake–tsunami hazard
analysis. 184
10.4 Layout of the new Japanese early warning system S-net, consisting of
151 Ocean Bottom Pressure Gauges connected by optic fiber cables. 189
10.5 Illustration of evacuation time maps: (a) horizontal evacuation,
(b) vertical evacuation, and (c) combined horizontal-vertical evacuation. 190
10.6 (a) Padang geographical location; (b) tsunami inundation map for
the Mw9 scenario (circles are the locations of tsunami
evacuation shelters in Padang). 191
10.7 (a) Seismic fragility curves and (b) tsunami fragility curves. 192
10.8 Evacuation time maps for Padang under the Mw9 earthquake scenario
from the Mentawai fault segment: (a) horizontal evacuation,
(b) vertical evacuation, and (c) combined horizontal-vertical evacuation. 193
11.1 Traffic network under study; Irish case study. 207
11.2 Conditional probability distribution of vulnerability given an accessibility
≤ its 25th quantile, and a reliability > its 75th quantile. 208
11.3 Diagrammatic representation of the traffic response of a traffic network
suffering a perturbation. 208
11.4 Resilience assessment for a traffic network suffering from the
perturbation indicated by dashed line. 209
11.5 Definition of fragility curves. Work flow. 210
11.6 Identification of intensity and duration of the cold-drop events in
Valencia (Spain) between 1961 and 2010. 211
11.7 Fragility curves of the traffic network. 212
11.8 Diagrammatic representation of cyber-transportation systems at physical
and operational levels. 213
12.1 Resilience of a system. 218
xvi
Figures
xvii
Figures
xviii
Figures
22.5 The change of binder viscosity with pavement depth for seven samples
(TM: Tun Mun Rd; Tolo: Tolo Highways). 410
22.6 The change of peak height ratio of ketones bond with pavement depth
for seven samples (TM: Tun Mun Rd; Tolo: Tolo Highways). 411
22.7 The change of binder viscosity with pavement depth in LTPP sites
(wet and non-freeze climate). 412
22.8 The change of binder viscosity with pavement depth in LTPP sites
(wet and freeze climate). 412
22.9 The change of binder viscosity with pavement depth in LTPP sites
(dry climate). 413
22.10 The change of binder viscosity with pavement depth in samples from
the MnROAD experiment. 413
23.1 Flowchart of multi-attribute utility assessment of sustainability. 424
23.2 Exponential utility functions: utilities (a) increase and (b) decrease with
attribute values. 426
23.3 Uncertainties in the structural life-cycle. 427
23.4 Generic model of deterioration in terms of reliability indices. 428
23.5 Uncertainties in a resilience process. 429
23.6 Generic model of resilience in terms of reliability indices. 430
23.7 Interaction between sustainability (structural longevity perspective) and
resilience. 431
23.8 Illustration of probabilistic lifetime resilience. 432
23.9 Flowchart of multi-objective optimization. 433
23.10 Lifetime risk values without intervention actions. 437
23.11 Sustainability-informed life-cycle assessment: (a) lifetime utilities
associated with risk; (b) distributions of utilities associated with risk,
intervention, and resilience. 438
23.12 Pareto front of multi-objective optimization: (a) tri-objective Pareto
front; (b) bi-objective Pareto fronts with intervention utilities. 439
24.1 Nonlinear static pushover results (per frame line) for 4-story buildings:
(a) with varying strength and (b) with varying ductility capacities
(measured through SCWB ratio). The labels RDRyield and RDRult in
(b) illustrate the points used to calculate the ductility capacity for a
selected building. 448
24.2 Influence of seismic design on upfront embodied carbon for 4-story
buildings showing effect of: (a) lateral base shear strength and (b) ductility
capacity. 448
24.3 Median post-earthquake: (a) economic and (b) embodied carbon losses
for 4-story buildings with varying strengths at each of nine
ground shaking intensity levels (* denotes code-compliant designs). 450
24.4 Life-cycle earthquake: (a) economic and (b) embodied carbon losses
for 4-story buildings with varying strengths, quantified as annuities and
expressed as percentage of total building replacement values (* denotes
code-compliant designs). 451
xix
Figures
xx
Figures
25.13 Electric power inoperability data for selected prefectures for the
March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake. 485
25.14 Cell tower inoperability for Aransas County, Texas after Harvey landfall. 486
25.15 Water service recovery after the 2011 Japan earthquake. 487
25.16 Subway and power recovery in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. 489
25.17 Linear regression results for the Chile 2010 earthquake. 490
26.1 Example BN of infrastructure system, including component,
supercomponent, MLS, and system nodes. 498
26.2 Service provision interdependency modeled between C ip and C iw. 499
26.3 Geographic interdependency modeled between C1w ,…, C wj with common
hazard node H . 500
26.4 Access for repair interdependency modeled for C wj with access node A
and previous state node C wj .
’
501
26.5 Example application of interdependent power, water, and gas networks
with supply, transshipment, and distribution nodes shown. 502
26.6 Power, water, and gas nodes (circled) closest to the city of Memphis. 502
26.7 BN model including service provision, geographic, and access for
repair interdependencies; supercomponent, minimum link set (MLS),
component, link, and terminal distribution nodes. 503
27.1 Pictorial representation of the multi-layered heterogeneous network
(MHN) model. 514
27.2 3D illustration of the networks with representation of their
interdependencies on a plane. 521
27.3 Variation of the connectivity metrics as a function of the number of
removed nodes. 522
27.4 Centerville’s electrical power network superimposed to the potable water
network, with highlighted dependency areas. 523
27.5 Percentage of nodes attaining or exceeding the pressure threshold during
the recovery process. 524
28.1 Recovery zones for the repair of damaged infrastructure components. 533
28.2 Recovery schedule for the repair of damaged substations. 535
28.3 Dynamics of interdependent networks. 538
28.4 Schematic recovery curve and the associated resilience metrics. 539
28.5 Electric power infrastructure: (a) in Shelby County, and (b) in Tennessee. 541
28.6 Potable water network in Shelby County. 542
28.7 Schematic representation of a typical node in a substation. 543
28.8 Recovery schedule for the repair of damaged water pipelines. 545
28.9 Predicted recovery of disrupted services provided by: (a) electric power,
and (b) potable water infrastructure across Shelby County. 548
28.10 Predicted recovery of disrupted services in terms of the aggregate
performance measure across Shelby County. 549
29.1 Sample path of the performance indicator (system’s condition) Vt over
time t, and actions involved during the life-cycle of an engineered system. 557
xxi
Figures
of fT ,P (t , pa ) based on samples.
I a
595
30.4 KDE approximation of fT (t | pa ) for different pa values.
I
595
30.5 Samples from and KDE approximations of the conditional PDFs
fT |L , P (t , pa | LF ) and fT |L , P (t , pa | LR ), (a) samples from fT |L , P (t , pa | LF ),
I F a I R a I F a
(d) fT |L ,P (t , pa | LR ).
I R a
596
30.6 Conditional PDFs fT |L (t | LF , pa ) and fT |L (t | LR , pa ) for different
I F I R
pa values. 597
30.7 Variation of objective function H ( pa )=E[C total (tlca )| pa ]/ Cc as a
function of pa . 597
30.8 Variation of life-cycle performance quantities over time for the selection
of optimal (a) expected age, (b) expected availability, (c) expected total
cost, (d) expected net benefit. 598
31.1 Estimated average reductions in western US electricity summertime
generation capacity by mid-century. 609
31.2 Transmission capacity reduction (percentage) relative to 1990–2010
by 2060 under RCP4.5. 610
31.3 Impacts of sea level rise on water, wastewater and stormwater systems. 613
31.4 Change in pavement fatigue cracking by 2040–2060 with RCP 8.5
temperature rise. 617
32.1 Relative importance of uncertainty sources over time for decadal
mean surface air temperature projections: (a) global (earth) and
(b) British Isles. 631
32.2 CO2 concentrations for various global warming scenarios. 634
32.3 Configuration of the bridge girder. 634
32.4 Failure probability for various levels of corrosion aggressiveness. 637
32.5 Studied locations in France. 640
32.6 Temperature and RH projections for Nantes. 640
xxii
Figures
xxiii
Figures
36.6 Application interfaces for (a) human physiological data; (b) thermal
sensation and preference; (c) collective “opinion”; (d) conditioning mode. 715
36.7 Push notifications for two scenarios (left: setpoint is changed; right:
time to use natural ventilation). 716
36.8 Overview of the workflow. 719
36.9 Left: temperature and CO2 sensors (left); location marker and window
sensor (middle); nest thermostat (right). 720
36.10 Three participants’ reported room temperature and skin temperature of
different thermal preference levels. 722
36.11 Classification accuracy of comfort prediction model with respect to data
size (n represents the total number of samples in the dataset). 723
36.12 Multi-occupancy test bed (photo courtesy of Seventhwave). 724
36.13 Room temperature and participants’ thermal preference for week 1. 725
36.14 Room temperature and participants’ thermal preference for week 2. 726
36.15 Room temperature and participants’ thermal preference for week 3. 726
36.16 Number of uncomfortable reports of the scheduled and dynamic
environment. 727
37.1 Overview of the three machine learning techniques. 734
37.2 Basic structure of reinforcement learning. 735
37.3 Types of reinforcement learning. 736
37.4 Two types of artificial neural networks can be used to map state-action
pairs to Q values. Example for three states and two actions: (a) Input: 3
measurements (x1, x2 , x3) and 1 action (a j ). Output: Q j = Q( x1, x2 , x3 , a j ).
(b) Input: 3 measurements. Output Q1 = Q( x1, x2 , x3 , a1 ) and
Q2 = Q( x1, x2 , x3 , a2 ). 739
38.1 Network performance, φ(t) across state transitions before, during, and
after the occurrence of a disruptive event, ej. 750
38.2 An interdependent network example. 755
38.3 The interdependent networks example with the randomly disrupted
components. 756
38.4 Network resilience measure over the recovery time horizon with
different number of work crews for the (a) power network,
(b) water network, and (c) collective set of interdependent networks. 757
38.5 Location of candidate sites for work crews’ facilities in the
interdependent networks. 760
38.6 Resilience vs. time considering a different number of established
facilities for (a) power network, (b) water network, and (c) collective
set of interdependent networks. 761
38.7 The interdependent networks with the disrupted components and the
selected sites for work crew facilities. 762
38.8 Network resilience considering different restoration scenarios based on
the ORT for the (a) power network and (b) water network. 767
39.1 Schematic of lifecycle analyses through Bayesian networks.
(a) construction stage, (b) lifecycle. 775
xxiv
Figures
xxv
Figures
42.7 Placebo analysis for Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and St. John the
Baptist. Each line corresponds to the difference between observed
outcomes relative to estimated synthetic controls. The black lines
coincide with the four treated areas, and the light gray lines their
associated placebos. 838
42.8 Damage normalized employment effects for Jefferson, Orleans, and
St. Bernard. Employment effects are divided by the count of major and
severe damages accruing from Hurricane Katrina and Rita. 839
43.1 Model of the transportation network. 851
43.2 Expected physical damage to the Seaside buildings. 853
43.3 Expected closed bridges and corresponding route from the distribution
centers to the food retail store at time t0 .
+ 855
43.4 Expected available workers at time t0 .
+ 857
43.5 Connectivity between the distribution centers and the food retail
store at time t = 90 days. 858
43.6 Expected available workers at time t = 90 days. 859
43.7 Expected available workers at time t = 120 days. 860
44.1 Relationship between failure probabilities P f , Pf,d and CAT bond
prices Vt ,Vt,d, given a quantile q. 869
44.2 CAT bond default-r isk zonation vs. historical seismicity (MW ≥ 4.5). 874
44.3 Comparison between the aggregate number of earthquakes and the
expected number of events of the HPP (E[Nt]) for each zone. 875
44.4 Residential-use built-area for each Italian municipality. 877
44.5 Modeled loss data fitting with Lognormal distribution for each zone. 880
44.6 Failure probability Pf surface for the three zones. 881
44.7 Zero-coupon CAT bond price for the three zones. 882
44.8 Coupon CAT bond price for the three zones. 883
44.9 Coupon CAT bond price of Zone 1 for different q values and
covariance matrixes. 885
xxvi
Tables
2.1 NIST guide six-step planning process and key activities for community
resilience 23
4.1 Example capabilities and indicators 53
6.1 Statistics of the path parameters for tornadoes in Oklahoma 102
6.2 Statistics of wind speed in each EF-scale 102
6.3 Definition of damage state 103
6.4 Damage value 103
6.5 UIR and DLR estimated for four 32 km by 32 km (20-mi by 20-mi)
hypothetical building clusters consisting of well-performing building
archetypes and proposed building cluster goals 104
6.6 Optimal de-aggregation of building cluster goals 106
6.7 Minimum performance objectives (Target λTR )for individual residential
buildings for the three code levels 107
7.1 Difference between approaches A and B for calculating
tornado-induced load 118
7.2 Wind load statistics 118
7.3 Resistance statistics for the components of the wood-frame residential
buildings 119
7.4 Damage states for the wood-frame building 119
7.5 Types of buildings assumed to exist in the city of Joplin 121
7.6 Fragility parameters of the 19 archetypes buildings used in this chapter 123
7.7 Loss estimation for the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak 131
9.1 Waiting time conditional on initial damage condition and utility
availability, WTi ,n j |ds p , uaq 167
9.2 Summary of Centerville building types 171
9.3 Household characteristics of residential zones (Zone 1–Zone 7) 172
9.4 Statistics of delay time 173
9.5 Statistics of building Repair Time with respect to repair classes (RCs) 173
9.6 Financing resources for Centerville buildings restoration 174
11.1 Comparison between risk analysis and resilience analysis 200
11.2 Classification of indicators and some of the attributes related to them 204
12.1 Bridge functionality restoration model 226
12.2 Resilience metrics for the Shelby road network 234
xxvii
Tables
xxviii
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définitif, un cri tel du dieu intérieur qu’on ne peut ni hésiter, ni s’y
tromper. Or, manifestement, tu ne perçois rien de tout cela. Donc, tu
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Il s’arrêta pendant quelques secondes et, devant la mine
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rien à toutes ces choses.
Il se tourna vers François, pour changer de conversation :
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— Voilà de longues fiançailles, dit Bernard.
— N’est-ce pas, l’abbé ? » répondit François en gouaillant. Il se
tut aussitôt devant l’expression du visage blessé. Mais Abraham :
— Si tu avais la vocation, tu prendrais une autre mine, mon
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Le jeune Rabevel fit une mine désolée. Il sentait bien la justesse
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flou ! il marchait là, dans la vie, son pas était élastique sur le sol
ferme ; il coudoyait les passants ; parfois une chair de femme
s’appuyait à lui dans la foule ; que ces raisonnements étaient loin ! Et
puis enfin, Dieu, s’il existait… (S’il existait ! Mais oui, il existait,
malice du Démon !) enfin, Dieu n’avait pas fait la morale de l’Église ;
et, avec celle-ci, d’ailleurs… La casuistique qu’il n’avait jamais songé
à appliquer à sa défense vint à lui, indulgente et bienfaisante. Il y
pressentit tous les repos et il rêvait vaguement d’une libération
définitive.
Par moments pourtant une révolte contre lui-même le secouait. Il
se trouvait dégoûtant, bas et lâche ; et si coupable. Il fut sur le point
de retourner au collège… Non, il n’irait pas, que dirait-on ? Il devait
voir les siens, prendre ces quinze jours de réflexion et de repos. Le
Père Régard avait bien prévu la crise, il comptait sur lui. Soudain,
comme il entrait dans la rue des Rosiers, il songea combien il était
indigne de la confiance du Jésuite. Il se jugea méprisable. Et sans
plus réfléchir, les larmes aux yeux, il prit les jambes à son cou et
courut tout d’une traite jusqu’à la rue des Francs-Bourgeois. Il se
confesserait, il ferait pénitence, demain il communierait et
commencerait une retraite ; maintenant il sentait bien que Dieu
l’appelait. Il arriva au Collège, monta jusqu’à la chambre du Père :
elle était vide. Il redescendit ; on lui apprit que le Père dînait chez le
curé de la Madeleine. Il s’aperçut alors qu’il était déjà tard. Il résolut
sur-le-champ de dîner à la maison puis d’aller aussitôt à la
Madeleine. Mais qu’allait-on dire chez lui quand il dirait qu’il venait
de se décider à entrer dans les Ordres ?
Bien sûr, on ne demanderait pas mieux que de se débarrasser
d’un enfant gênant et difficile. Il se reprocha ce jugement téméraire.
Il rentra et trouva son monde attablé. Rodolphe était couché ; on
l’entendait tousser dans la chambre : « Il ne va pas » dit Eugénie.
Elle était toujours belle, même resplendissante. A un moment son
sein se souleva, ce sein qu’il avait touché et il imagina dans un éclair
Blandine nue devant les lions. Quand il expliqua sa venue, les vieux
ne dirent rien ; ils étaient cassés et pour la première fois sortant
devant eux de lui-même il les trouva affaissés, usés, si changés en
ces quatre ans où il les avait à peine entrevus. Noë lui dit : « Mon
petit, tu es libre, entièrement libre ; je ne tiens pas à avoir un curé
dans la famille mais, enfin, tu es libre de le devenir ». Et comme
Bernard regardait Eugénie d’un air interrogateur : « Que veux-tu que
je te dise ? » fit-elle. « Ton oncle a raison ; et puis, c’est lui le maître à
cette heure, comme de juste. Il nourrit la maisonnée depuis la
maladie de Rodolphe. » Noë la fit taire. C’était la justice qu’il aidât
les siens. Encore heureux qu’il pût le faire ne s’étant pas marié. Une
rougeur fugitive passa sur leur front. Bernard sentit parfaitement et
comme matériellement la présence du désir, pour si respectueux,
secret et peut-être inconscient ou terrorisé de l’inceste que fût ce
désir. Adossé à sa chaise, il voulut s’examiner, fermer les yeux. Mais
des images nues le visitaient qu’il ne se rappelait pas avoir jamais
vues. Il se reprochait sa complaisance en s’y attardant. Tout d’un
coup il se souvint qu’il devait aller à la Madeleine ; bah ! neuf heures,
il avait le temps. Eugénie lui servait du thé ; par la grande
emmanchure du peignoir il vit tout entier le bras, la chair ferme et
blanche, le duvet au fond et l’ombre qui partait de l’aisselle
trahissant une rondeur commençante ; elle continuait à le considérer
comme un petit garçon, lui mit la main sur les yeux par gaminerie : il
appuya sa tête au creux de la poitrine et il sentait le cœur battre et
les seins tièdes contre ses oreilles glacées. Dix heures ! il ne pouvait
se résoudre à sortir. Eugénie alluma enfin les bougies, et lui souhaita
le bonsoir. « Ta chambre est prête » lui dit-elle. Il monta. Devant la
glace il se peigna soigneusement : « Je prendrai l’omnibus à l’Hôtel
de Ville, se disait-il, je serai chez le curé de la Madeleine à la demie,
ce sera assez tôt, je sais que le Père ne s’en va jamais avant onze
heures quand il dîne là ». Il lustra ses bottines d’un coup de chiffon,
prit le bougeoir et se disposa à sortir de la chambre. Comme il
mettait la main sur le bouton de la porte, il crut entendre un soupir ; il
s’arrêta ; le bruit se répéta, venant de la chambre voisine ; il comprit
aussitôt et il lui sembla en même temps qu’il refusait de s’examiner,
de soumettre ses actes prochains à sa conscience ; il repoussait
toute réflexion définie, devenait un automate volontairement
abandonné à l’instinct. Il quitta son chapeau, ses chaussures, se
dévêtit, passa sa chemise de nuit et son caleçon, mit ses pieds dans
des savates ; puis, résolument, il cogna à la cloison : « Avez-vous
fini ? » cria-t-il. Un colloque de voix confuses lui répondit. Puis une
voix d’homme insultante : « Ta gueule eh ! curé ! » Il eut un sourire
de triomphe, sortit, essaya de pousser la porte voisine sous laquelle
filtrait un rais de lumière. La porte résista ; il força lentement,
irrésistiblement, arqué de tous ses muscles ; le verrou léger céda
enfin. Brusquement entré, il se vit en face de deux êtres nus, et,
délibérément, se jeta sur le mâle. Toute sa jeune puissance
inentamée, sa vigueur vierge se décuplait du désir de la femme. Il
empoigna l’homme au cou, l’attira au sol et sonna de sa tête à
plusieurs reprises sur les carreaux avec une rage qu’il ne s’expliquait
même pas ; il entendait haleter la femme immobile derrière lui ;
l’autre ne bougeait plus. Il crut tout d’un coup l’avoir tué et sua mais
l’homme reprenait ses sens ; il lui mit ses hardes sur les bras, le
dressa debout, le porta presque jusqu’à la porte de l’escalier de
secours et d’une bourrade le précipita dans le limaçon. Il referma la
lourde porte derrière lui, poussa le verrou et revint à la chambre où
la femme hébétée, toute nue, restait assise sur le bord du matelas. Il
observa que ce n’était pas la même servante qu’auparavant mais
qu’elle était jeune et désirable. « Couche-toi donc », lui dit-il. Elle le
regarda craintivement et s’étendit, retenant son souffle. Mais lui,
d’une voix rauque :
— Allons, fais-moi place.
Elle le regarda de nouveau, le trouva beau et fort, sourit un peu
et se poussa vers le mur. Alors il acheva de se dévêtir et s’allongea
auprès d’elle.
CHAPITRE TROISIÈME