Meeting Cezanne

Yannick's cousin

Step 1: The story introduces us to several characters connected to Yannick. Step 2: Amandine tells Yannick to fetch logs and later calls him a fool. Step 3: When Uncle Bruno asks what happened, Amandine says 'It was Yannick, Papa' — this tells us Uncle Bruno is her father. Step 4: Since Uncle Bruno is Yannick's uncle, Amandine must be Yannick's cousin. Step 5: She is not his sister, aunt, or a friend from Paris.

He was kind and comforting to Yannick.

Step 1: Uncle Bruno came striding over, looking unlike his jolly self — he seemed serious. Step 2: He asked Amandine if she had told Yannick about the custom. When she admitted she had not, he asked her to apologise. Step 3: Then he put his arm around Yannick and said 'Never mind, Yannick.' Step 4: He told Yannick to look on the bright side and said the drawing was really meant for him. Step 5: This shows Uncle Bruno was fair, kind, and understanding — not harsh.

Find something to be glad about in a difficult situation.

Step 1: Uncle Bruno uses this phrase when trying to comfort Yannick after the tablecloth incident. Step 2: An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be guessed from individual words. Step 3: 'Look on the bright side' does not mean anything about light or windows. Step 4: Uncle Bruno uses it to tell Yannick to think positively — after all, he had briefly held a drawing made for him by the greatest painter in the world. Step 5: The correct meaning is to find something positive or hopeful in a bad situation.

He wanted to ask the painter for another drawing to make Amandine happy.

Step 1: After the incident, Yannick lay awake all night thinking. Step 2: He wanted to make things right and make Amandine happy. Step 3: He worked out a plan — he would go and ask the painter for another drawing. Step 4: The next morning, he went to the chateau instead of his usual walk in the hills. Step 5: His motive was kindness — to fix what had gone wrong and cheer up his cousin.