And here, faith in life had yielded prosperity, ever-increasing,
overflowing wealth, all the sovereign florescence of happy fruitfulness.
Seguin, addressing himself to Marianne, asked her jestingly: "And so that
little gentleman is the fourteenth you have nursed?"
She likewise laughed. "No; I mustn't tell fibs! I have nursed twelve,
including this one; that is the exact number."
Beauchene, who had recovered his self-possession, could not refrain from
intervening once more: "A full dozen, eh! It is madness!"
"I share your opinion," said Mathieu, laughing in his turn. "At all
events, if it is not madness it is extravagance, as we admit, my wife and
I, when we are alone. And we certainly don't think that all people ought
to have such large families as ours. But, given the situation in France
nowadays, with our population dwindling and that of nearly every other
country increasing, it is hardly possible to complain of even the largest
family. Thus, even if our example be exaggerated, it remains an example,
I think, for others to think over."
Marianne listened, still smiling, but with tears standing in her eyes. A
feeling of gentle sadness was penetrating her; her heart-wound had
reopened even amid all her joy at seeing her children assembled around
her.
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