They
resolutely took each other's hand and plighted their troth for life, for
the hard battle of creating a new world, a new family, somewhere on the
earth's broad surface, in those mysterious, far away climes of which they
knew so little. 'Twas a delightful betrothal, full of courage and faith.
Only then, everything having been settled, did Nicolas speak out,
announcing his departure to his father and mother. It was an autumn
evening, still mild, but fraught with winter's first shiver, and the
twilight was falling. Intense grief wrung the parents' hearts as soon as
they understood their son. This time it was not simply a young one flying
from the family nest to build his own on some neighboring tree of the
common forest; it was flight across the seas forever, severance without
hope of return. They would see their other children again, but this one
was breathing an eternal farewell. Their consent would be the share of
cruel sacrifice, that life demands, their supreme gift to life, the tithe
levied by life on their affection and their blood. To pursue its victory,
life, the perpetual conqueror, demanded this portion of their flesh, this
overplus of the numerous family, which was overflowing, spreading,
peopling the world.
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