The estate has almost doubled in value since it has been
in his hands and Claire's. There is no break in the prosperity; labor
yields unlimited victory."
"What is the good of it if there is no more love?" murmured Marianne.
"Then, too," continued Mathieu, after a pause, "I went down to the Yeuse,
and from a distance I saw that Gregoire had received the new machine
which Denis has just built for him. It was being unloaded in the yard. It
seems that it imparts a certain movement to the mill-stones, which saves
a good third of the power needed. With such appliances the earth may
produce seas of corn for innumerable nations, they will all have bread.
And that mill-engine, with its regular breath and motion, will produce
fresh wealth also."
"What use is it if people hate one another?" Marianne exclaimed.
At this Mathieu dropped the subject. But, in accordance with a resolution
which he had formed during his walk, he told his wife that he meant to go
to Paris on the morrow. And on noticing her surprise, he pretended that
he wished to see to a certain business matter, the settlement of an old
account. But the truth was, that he could no longer endure the spectacle
of his wife's lingering agony, which brought him so much suffering.
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