For a few moments more she only clings to both of them, her heart full of an overflowing desperate joy.

At last she finds other words. As so often, she takes refuge in fussing over one of them: "But there, Father, you must regain your strength. You must get well again! Here, I will bring you tea. And Bar has sent some good soft bread. Look how white it is! You will have some, I insist." And she chatters on, as she brings him tea and a small plate, and tucks the blanket close around him, and pours tea for Marius and herself too.

But instead of drinking hers right away, she settles down to rest her head on Marius's shoulder, and shed a few quiet tears of joy, and smile to see her father -- her dear father, who will live with them as she always wanted, and be well and happy -- sitting before her, alive and better after yesterday's horrors.