This man, who was to share the profits with her, robbed her impudently, though she never noticed it.
This circumstance had its advantages, however; for, in order to steal the more, the gardener drew as much as possible from the land, which in the result almost doubled in value.
Pierre, the legitimate son, either from secret instinct or from his knowledge of the different manner in which he and the others were regarded by the neighbours, domineered over his brother and sister from an early age.

In their quarrels, although he was much weaker than Antoine, he always got the better of the contest, beating the other with all the authority of a master.

With regard to Ursule, a poor, puny, wan little creature, she was handled with equal roughness by both the boys.

Indeed, until they were fifteen or sixteen, the three children fraternally beat each other without understanding their vague, mutual hatred, without realising how foreign they were to one another.

It was only in youth that they found themselves face to face with definite, self-conscious personalities.
At sixteen, Antoine was a tall fellow, a blend of Macquart's and Adelaide's failings.