Laughing, and well pleased to find his own feelings shared by his two sons, Mathieu returned Ambroise’s embrace.  And while waiting for lunch to be served, they went down to see the winter garden, which was being enlarged for some fetes which Ambroise wished to give.  He took pleasure in adding to the magnificence of the mansion, and in reigning there with princely pomp.  At lunch he apologized for only offering his father and brother a bachelor’s pot-luck, though, truth to tell, the fare was excellent.  Indeed, whenever Andree and the children absented themselves, Ambroise still kept a good cook to minister to his needs, for he held the cuisine of restaurants in horror.

“Well, for my part,” said Denis, “I go to a restaurant for my meals; for since Marthe and all the others have been at Dieppe, I have virtually shut up the house.”

“You are a wise man, you see,” Ambroise answered, with quiet frankness.  “For my part, as you are aware, I am an enjoyer.  Now, make haste and drink your coffee, and we will start.”

They reached Janville by the two o’clock train.  Their plan was to repair to Chantebled in the first instance, in order that Ambroise and Denis might begin by talking to Gervais, who was of a gentler nature than Gregoire, and with whom they thought they might devise some means of conciliation.  Then they intended to betake themselves to the mill, lecture Gregoire, and impose on him such peace conditions as they might have agreed upon.  As they drew nearer and nearer to the farm, however, the difficulties of their undertaking appeared to them, and seemed to increase in magnitude.  An arrangement would not be arrived at so easily as they had at first imagined.  So they girded their loins in readiness for a hard battle.

“Suppose we begin by going to see mamma,” Denis suggested.  “We should see and embrace her, and that would give us some courage.”

Ambroise deemed the idea an excellent one.  “Yes, let us go by all means, particularly as mamma has always been a good counsellor.  She must have some idea.”

They climbed to the first floor of the house, to the spacious room where Marianne spent her days on a couch beside the window.  And to their stupefaction they found her seated on that couch with Gregoire standing by her and holding both her hands, while on the other side were Gervais and Claire, laughing softly.

“Why! what is this?” exclaimed Ambroise in amazement.  “The work is done!”

“And we who despaired of being able to accomplish it!” declared Denis, with a gesture of bewilderment.

Mathieu was equally stupefied and delighted, and on noticing the surprise occasioned by the arrival of the two big brothers from Paris, he proceeded to explain the position.

“I went to Paris this morning to fetch them,” he said, “and I’ve brought them here to reconcile us all!”

A joyous peal of laughter resounded.  The big brothers were too late!  Neither their wisdom nor their diplomacy had been needed.  They themselves made merry over it, feeling the while greatly relieved that the victory should have been won without any battle.