in accordance with badly framed laws. He was resolved that Maurice should
be the sole master of the fortune which he himself had derived from his
father, and which he would transmit to his heir increased tenfold. For
his son he dreamt of supreme wealth, a colossal fortune, such as nowadays
alone ensures power.

Mathieu, refraining from any intervention, listened and remained grave;
for this question of the birth-rate seemed to him a frightful one, the
foremost of all questions, deciding the destiny of mankind and the world.
There has never been any progress but such as has been determined by
increase of births. If nations have accomplished evolutions, if
civilization has advanced, it is because the nations have multiplied and
subsequently spread through all the countries of the earth. And will not
to-morrow's evolution, the advent of truth and justice, be brought about
by the constant onslaught of the greater number, the revolutionary
fruitfulness of the toilers and the poor?

It is quite true that Mathieu did not plainly say all these things to
himself; indeed, he felt slightly ashamed of the four children that he
already had, and was disturbed by the counsels of prudence addressed to
him by the Beauchenes. But within him there struggled his faith in life,
his belief that the greatest possible sum of life must bring about the
greatest sum of happiness.

At last, wishing to change the subject, he bethought himself of
Marianne's commission, and at the first favorable opportunity exclaimed:
"Well, we shall rely on you, Marianne and I, for Sunday after next, at
Janville."

But there was still no answer, for just then a servant came to say that a