And it was again a daughter, Madeleine, who
came at the expiration of those two years. And when Mathieu saw his wife
erect and smiling again, with the dear little girl at her breast, 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.
And 'twas ever the great work, the good work, the work of fruitfulness
spreading, thanks to the earth and thanks to woman, both victorious over
destruction, offering fresh means of subsistence each time a fresh child
was born, and loving, willing, battling, toiling even amid suffering, and
ever tending to increase of life and increase of hope.
XIII
TWO more years went by, and during those two years Mathieu and Marianne
had yet another daughter; and this time, as the family increased,
Chantebled also was increased by all the woodland extending eastward of
the plateau to the distant farms of Mareuil and Lillebonne. All the
northern part of the property was thus acquired: more than five hundred
acres of woods, intersected by clearings which roads soon connected
together.
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