Yet
one has had him with one; he has grown up, and one has known for years
all the joy of having him at one's side. But when one never has a
child--never, never--ah! come rather suffering and mourning than such a
void as that!"
And meantime, at Chantebled, Mathieu and Marianne founded, created,
increased, and multiplied, again proving victorious in the eternal battle
which life wages against death, thanks to that continual increase both of
offspring and of fertile land, which was like their very existence, their
joy and their strength. Desire passed like a gust of flame, desire divine
and fruitful, since they possessed the power of love, of kindliness, and
health. And their energy did the rest--that will of action, that quiet
bravery in the presence of the labor that is necessary, the labor that
has made and that regulates the world. Yet even during those two years it
was not without constant struggling that they achieved victory. True,
victory was becoming more and more certain as the estate expanded. The
petty worries of earlier days had disappeared, and the chief question was
now one of ruling sensibly and equitably. All the land had been purchased
northward on the plateau, from the farm of Mareuil to the farm of
Lillebonne; there was not a copse that did not belong to the Froments,
and thus beside the surging sea of corn there rose a royal park of
centenarian trees.
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