"So you think it will grow, eh? Well, one can't say that it hasn't come
up. Only one must see if it can stand and ripen." And as Mathieu quietly
smiled with hope and confidence, he added, striving to poison his joy:
"Ah! when you know the earth you'll find what a hussy she is. I've seen
plenty of crops coming on magnificently, and then a storm, a gust of
wind, a mere trifle, has reduced them to nothing! But you are young at
the trade as yet; you'll get your experience in misfortune."
His wife, who nodded approval on hearing him talk so finely, then
addressed herself to Marianne: "Oh! my man doesn't say that to discourage
you, madame. But the land you know, is just like children. There are some
who live and some who die; some who give one pleasure, and others who
kill one with grief. But, all considered, one always bestows more on them
than one gets back, and in the end one finds oneself duped. You'll see,
you'll see."
Without replying, Marianne, moved by these malicious predictions, gently
raised her trustful eyes to Mathieu. And he, though for a moment
irritated by all the ignorance, envy, and imbecile ambition which he felt
were before him, contented himself with jesting.
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