The days following the reading of this will were very trying ones for
the family. Elena and her children kept looking at the other group as
though they had just waked up, contemplating them in an entirely new
light. They seemed to forget what they were going to receive in their
envy of the much larger share of their relatives.
Desnoyers, benevolent and conciliatory, had a plan. An expert in
administrative affairs, he realized that the distribution among the
heirs was going to double the expenses without increasing the income. He
was calculating, besides, the complications and disbursements necessary
for a judicial division of nine immense ranches, hundreds of thousands
of cattle, deposits in the banks, houses in the city, and debts to
collect. Would it not be better for them all to continue living as
before? . . . Had they not lived most peaceably as a united family? . . .
The German received this suggestion by drawing himself up haughtily.
No; to each one should be given what was his. Let each live in his own
sphere. He wished to establish himself in Europe, spending his wealth
freely there. It was necessary for him to return to "his world."
As they looked squarely at each other, Desnoyers saw an unknown Karl,
a Karl whose existence he had never suspected when he was under his
protection, timid and servile. The Frenchman, too, was beginning to see
things in a new light.
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