'Two Brothers' Summary

When a wealthy landowner in post-Napoleonic France mistakenly believes that his daughter is not his legitimate offspring, he sends her away to be raised by his in-laws in Paris. She grows up, marries, and becomes the mother of two boys, but she mistakenly dotes on only one of them, unable to see that he is a selfish and cruel scoundrel. Meanwhile, her brother, still ensconced in the family home, has grown up to be a feckless non-entity, vulnerable to the manipulations of those around him, including an attractive servant girl who has been taken into the household. When the Paris branch of the family returns to the small town, hoping to carve out for themselves a share of the late father's inheritance, things get complicated and long-buried secrets are revealed.