at soil. In going thither
one of his objects doubtless was to find a pretext for a quarrel; for it
was he who in the course of one of these promenades, when he displayed
such provoking insolence, discovered an encroachment on the part of the
farm--an encroachment which his comments magnified to such a degree that
disastrous consequences seemed probable. As it was, all the happiness of
the Froments was for a time destroyed.

In business matters Gregoire invariably showed the rough impulsiveness
of a man of sanguine temperament, obstinately determined to part with
no fraction of his rights. When his father-in-law told him that the
farm had impudently cleared some seven acres of his moorland, with the
intention no doubt of carrying this fine robbery even further, if it
were not promptly stopped, Gregoire at once decided to inquire into the
matter, declaring that he would not tolerate any invasion of that sort.
The misfortune then was that no boundary stones could be found. Thus,
the people of the farm might assert that they had made a mistake in
all good faith, or even that they had remained within their limits. But
Lepailleur ragefully maintained the contrary, entered into particulars,
and traced what he declared to be the proper frontier line with his
stick, swearing that within a few inches it was absolutely correct.
However, matters went altogether from bad to worse after an interview
between the brothers, Gervais and Gregoire, in the course of which the
latter lost his temper and indulged in unpardonable language. On the
morrow, too, he began an action-at-law, to which Gervais replied by
threatening that he would not send another grain of corn to be ground
at the mill. And this rupture of business relations meant serious
consequences for the mill, which really owed its prosperity to the
custom of Chantebled.

From that moment matters grew worse each day, and conciliation soon
seemed to be out of the question; for Ambroise, on being solicited to
find a basis of agreement, became in his turn impassioned, and even
ended by enraging both parties. Thus the hateful ravages of that
fratricidal war were increased: there were now three brothers up in arms
against one another. And did not this forebode the end of everything;
might not this destructive fury gain the whole family, overwhelming it
as with a blast of folly and hatred after so many years of sterling good
sense and strong and healthy affection?

Mathieu naturally