In this wise, then, the battle went on, and spread
incessantly in all directions; and the chances of decisive victory
likewise increased, compensation for possible loss on one side being
found on another where the harvest proved prodigious.
And, like the estate, the children also grew. Blaise and Denis, the
twins, now already fourteen years of age, reaped prize after prize at
school, putting their younger brother, Ambroise, slightly to shame, for
his quick and ingenious mind was often busy with other matters than his
lessons. Gervais, the girls Rose and Claire, as well as the last-born
boy, little Gregoire, were yet too young to be trusted alone in Paris,
and so they continued growing in the open air of the country, without any
great mishap befalling them. And at the end of those two years Marianne
gave birth to her eighth child, this time a girl, named Louise; and when
Mathieu saw her smiling with the dear little babe in her arms, he
embraced her passionately, and triumphed once again over every sorrow and
every pang. Yet another child, yet more wealth and power, yet an
additional force born into the world, another field ready for to-morrow's
harvest.
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