At dessert, Albert was the first to break the long silence which had succeeded his mother's last words, by inquiring:
"Has Elizabeth come to see you?"
"Only once."
"And you?"
"I went there five times."
As if to excuse herself for not having more frequently renewed her attempts at reconciliation, she added:
"I feel so uncomfortable in their house."
He could have embraced her for this word which had come so spontaneously from the poor woman's lips:
"So do I, Mother.... I have always felt uncomfortable ... in my own house."
She regretted her remark and again they were silent under the indignant gaze of Fanchette, who went back to the pantry, raising her only available arm: he had swallowed his pancakes as if they were medicine, without showing the slightest pleasure!