The accountant was but indifferently pleased at the coming of this
son. It was, above all, a cause of expense. He had been compelled
to give some thirty francs to a nurse, and almost twice as much for
the baby's clothes. Then a child breaks up the regularity of one's
habits; and he, as he affirmed, was attached to his as much as to
life itself. And now he saw his household disturbed, the hours of
his meals altered, his own importance reduced, his authority even
ignored.

But what mattered now to his young wife the ill-humor which he no
longer took the trouble to conceal? Mother, she defied her tyrant.

Now, at least, she had in this world a being upon whom she could
lavish all her caresses so brutally repelled. There existed a soul
within which she reigned supreme. What troubles would not a smile
of her son have made her forget?

With the admirable instinct of an egotist, M. Favoral understood so
well what passed in the mind of his wife, that he dared not complain
too much of what the little fellow cost. He made up his mind bravely;
and when four years later, his daughter Gilberte was born, instead
of lamenting:

"Bash!" said he: "God blesses large families."



VII