Gregoire
took no oath on the subject, but gayly declared that he was not such a
fool as to despoil his wife of the best part of her inheritance,
particularly as he proposed to cultivate those moors and, within two or
three years' time, make them the most fertile land in the district. That
which belonged to him did not belong to others, and people would soon see
that he was well able to defend the property which had fallen to his lot.
Things took a similar course with respect to the mill, where Gregoire at
first contented himself with repairing the old mechanism, for he was
unwilling to upset the miller's habits all at once, and therefore
postponed until some future time the installation of an engine, and the
laying down of a line of rails to Janville station--all those ideas
formerly propounded by Mathieu which henceforth fermented in his
audacious young mind.
In this wise, then, people found themselves in presence of a new
Gregoire. The madcap had become wise, only retaining of his youthful
follies the audacity which is needful for successful enterprise. And it
must be said that he was admirably seconded by the fair and energetic
Therese.
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