"What?"
"If you think I'm going to assent to this, you're wrong! The third lot, eh? The bad one! I told you over and over again that I wanted a different division. But you pooh-pooh'd me! Besides, can't I see through your trickery? Oughtn't the youngest to have drawn first? No, I won't draw, since there's been cheating!"
The parents gazed at his wild movements as he gesticulated and stamped about.
"My poor boy, you're going crazy," said Rose.
"Oh, yes, mamma, I know well enough you never liked me. You'd strip the skin off my back to give it to my brother. You'd all of you eat me alive."
Fouan sternly interrupted him. "Enough of this folly! Will you draw?"
"It'll have to be done all over again."
At this there was a general protest. Hyacinthe and Fanny clutched their papers as if a forcible attempt were being made upon them. Delhomme declared that the drawing had been fair, and Grosbois, much aggrieved, threatened to leave if his honesty were called in question.
"Then papa shall add a thousand francs to my share out of his hoard," said Buteau.
The old man, taken aback for an instant, stammered. Then he drew himself up and advanced threateningly.