They sat down to dinner. My grandfather told stories which made them laugh, but I thought they would not laugh long, for whenever my parents came from Blérancourt they always ended by quarrelling together.
My father said suddenly:
“This time we will take Juliette home with us!”
I did not dare to say that I did not wish to go. I was much more afraid of my parents than of my grandparents.
“No, I shall keep her,” replied grandmother.
“It is more than two years since you took her from us,” continued my father. “If we still had her brother, or if she had a sister, I promise you that I would give her to you, but think, mother, I have only this little one.”
“It is not our affair, but yours, to give her a brother or sister,” my grandfather replied, laughing.
Certainly, I thought, grandfather was right. Why did not papa and mamma buy me a little sister or brother? Then they would not need to say they would take me from grandmother.
“You must give Juliette back to us,” my father repeated. “I want her.”
“Never!” cried grandfather and grandmother at once. “She belongs to us; you abandoned her.”