"I did not think you could have had to complain of me!"
"Of you the very first! It is you who are the soul of this resistance, which I will overcome. I shall overcome it! I answer for that."
"My poor friend," she said, clasping her hands; "you are still set on that!"
"Exactly."
"You cannot overcome everything, alas!"
"That is what we are going to see."
Madame Oberlé did not answer and went upstairs quickly. A new anxiety, stronger than the fear of her husband's threats, tortured her now.
"What did my father-in-law wish to say?" she asked herself. "The old man is not delirious. He remembers; he foresees; he watches over the house; he always thinks things out carefully. If only Jean did not understand it as I understand it!"
At the top of the stairs she met her son, who was coming out of the grandfather's room.
"Well?"