There were partial failures at
first, and defeat even seemed possible, so great was the patient
determination which the creative effort demanded. But here, too, the
crops at last overflowed, while the intelligent felling of a part of the
purchased woods resulted in a large profit, and gave Mathieu an idea of
cultivating some of the spacious clearings hitherto overgrown with
brambles.
And while the estate spread the children grew. It had been necessary to
send the three elder ones--Blaise, Denis, and Ambroise--to a school in
Paris, whither they gallantly repaired each day by the first train,
returning only in the evening. But the three others, little Gervais and
the girls Rose and Claire, were still allowed all freedom in the midst of
Nature. Marianne, however, gave birth to a seventh child, amid
circumstances which caused Mathieu keen anxiety. For a moment, indeed, he
feared that he might lose her. But her healthful temperament triumphed
over all, and the child--a boy, named Gregoire--soon drank life and
strength from her breast, as from the very source of existence. When
Mathieu saw his wife smiling again with that dear little one in her arms,
he embraced her passionately, and triumphed once again over every sorrow
and every pang.
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