A short novel about two grown brothers in Le Havre, devoted to their parents and to each other. When an unexpected inheritance comes to the younger brother, Jean, a slow and painful suspicion begins to grow in the elder, Pierre, and it threatens the calm of the household. Maupassant explores jealousy, family loyalty and the uneasy secrets that lie beneath respectable life. The book is admired for its tight construction and psychological depth, and it is prefaced by the author's well-known essay on the art of the novel.