That, then, is
the truth I was seeking. It is desire and love that save. Whoever loves
and creates is the revolutionary saviour, the maker of men for the new
world which will shortly dawn."
Never before had Mathieu so plainly understood that he and his wife were
different from others. This now struck him with extraordinary force.
Comparisons ensued, and he realized that their simple life, free from the
lust of wealth, their contempt for luxury and worldly vanities, all their
common participation in toil which made them accept and glorify life and
its duties, all that mode of existence of theirs which was at once their
joy and their strength, sprang solely from the source of eternal energy:
the love with which they glowed. If, later on, victory should remain with
them, if they should some day leave behind them work of value and health
and happiness, it would be solely because they had possessed the power of
love and the courage to love freely, harvesting, in an ever-increasing
family, both the means of support and the means of conquest. And this
sudden conviction filled Mathieu with such a glow that he leant towards
his wife, who sat there deeply moved by what he said, and kissed her
ardently upon the lips.
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