d, he told them that they were all three
mad in causing me such grief, and that they ought to come to an
understanding together. Thereupon they kissed one another. And now it's
done; it's all over."

But Gregoire gayly intervened. "Wait a moment; just listen; I cut too
fine a figure in the story as mamma relates it, and I must tell you the
truth. I wasn't the first to desire the reconciliation; the first was
my wife, Therese. She has a good sterling heart and the very brains of a
mule, in such wise that whenever she is determined on anything I always
have to do it in the end. Well, yesterday evening we had a bit of a
quarrel, for she had heard, I don't know how, that mamma was ill with
grief. And this pained her, and she tried to prove to me how stupid the
quarrel was, for we should all of us lose by it. This morning she began
again, and of course she convinced me, more particularly as, with the
thought of poor mamma lying ill through our fault, I had hardly slept
all night. But father Lepailleur still had to be convinced, and Therese
undertook to do that also. She even hit upon something extraordinary, so
that the old man might imagine that he was the conqueror of conquerors.
She persuaded him at last to sell you that terrible enclosure at such
an insane price that he will be able to shout 'victory!' over all the
house-tops."

Then turning to his brother and sister, Gregoire added, in a jocular
tone; "My dear Gervais, my dear Claire, let yourselves be robbed, I beg
of you. The peace of my home is at stake. Give my father-in-law the last
joy of believing that he alone has always been in the right, and that we
have never been anything but fools."

"Oh! as much money as he likes," replied Gervais, laughing. "Besides,
that enclosure has always been a dishonor for the estate, streaking
it with stones and brambles, like a nasty sore. We have long dreamt
of seeing the property spotless, with its crops waving without a break
under the sun. And Chantebled is rich enough to pay for its glory."

Thus the affair was settled. The wheat of the farm would return to the
mill to be ground, and the mother would get well again. It was the force
of life, the need of love, the union necessary for the whole family if
it were to continue victorious, that had imposed true brotherliness
on the sons, who for a moment had been foolish enough to destroy their
power by assailing one another.

The delight of finding themselves once more togeth