oil had taken possession of the earth as
victors and conquerors. It was cut up into a thousand little lots, and
the population had tripled between Conches and Blangy. The levelling and
cultivation of the noble park, once so carefully tended, so delightful
in its beauty, threw into isolated relief the pavilion of the
Rendezvous, now the Villa Buen-Retiro of Madame Isaure Gaubertin; it was
the only building left standing, and it commanded the whole landscape,
or as we might better call it, the stretch of cornfields which now
constituted the landscape. The building seemed magnified into a chateau,
so miserable were the little houses which the peasants had built around
it.

"This is progress!" cried Emile. "It is a page out of Jean-Jacques'
'Social Compact'! and I--I am harnessed to the social machine that works
it! Good God! what will the kings be soon? More than that, what will the
nations themselves be fifty years hence under this state of things?"

"But you love me; you are beside me. I think the present delightful.
What do I care for such a distant future?" said his wife.

"Oh yes! by your side, hurrah for the present!" cried the lover, gayly,
"and the devil take the future."

Then he signed to the coachman, and as the horses sprang forward along
the road, the wedded pair returned to the enjoyment of their honeymoon.

1845.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Note: Sons of the Soil is also known as The Peasantry and is referred to
by that title when mentioned in other addendums.

Blondet, Emile
Jealousies of a Country Town
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
The Firm of Nucingen

Blondet, Virginie
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Secrets of a Princess
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
The Member for Arcis
A Daughter of Eve

Bourlac, Bernard-Jean-Baptiste-Macloud, Baron de
The Seamy Side of History

Brossette, Abbe
Beatrix

Carigliano, Duchesse de
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Member for Arcis

Casteran, De
The Chouans
The Seamy Side of History
Jealousies of a Country Town