Seraphine had behaved
abominably. There had been first her dowry; next her demands for the
division of the property on their father's death; and the works had been
saved only by means of a large pecuniary sacrifice which had long
crippled their prosperity. And people imagined that he would be as
imprudent as his father! Why, if Maurice should have a brother or a
sister, he might hereafter find himself in the same dire embarrassment,
in which the family property might already have been destroyed. No, no!
He would not expose the boy to the necessity of dividing the inheritance
in accordance with badly framed laws. He was resolved that Maurice should
be the sole master of the fortune which he himself had derived from his
father, and which he would transmit to his heir increased tenfold. For
his son he dreamt of supreme wealth, a colossal fortune, such as nowadays
alone ensures power.
Mathieu, refraining from any intervention, listened and remained grave;
for this question of the birth-rate seemed to him a frightful one, the
foremost of all questions, deciding the destiny of mankind and the world.
There has never been any progress but such as has been determined by
increase of births.
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