who had prophesied to him that he and his wife and their
troop of children could only expect a life of black misery, and death in
a garret. There were also the Seguins, then his landlords, who had shown
him their millions, and their magnificent mansion, full of treasures,
crushing him the while, treating him with derisive pity because he did
not behave sensibly like themselves, who were content with having but
two children, a boy and a girl. And even those poor Moranges had talked
to him of giving a royal dowry to their one daughter Reine, dreaming at
that time of an appointment that would bring in twelve thousand francs
a year, and full of contempt for the misery which a numerous family
entails. And then the very Lepailleurs, the people of the mill, had
evinced distrust because there were twelve francs owing to them for milk
and eggs; for it had seemed to them doubtful whether a bourgeois, insane
enough to have so many children, could possibly pay his debts. Ah! the
views of the others had then appeared to be correct; he had repeated to
himself that he would never have a factory, nor a mansion, nor even a
mill, and that in all probability he would never earn twelve thousand
francs a year. The others had everything and he nothing. The others, the
rich, behaved sensibly, and did not burden themselves with offspring;
whereas, he, the poor man, already had more children than he could
provide for. What madness it had seemed to be!

But forty years had rolled away, and behold his madness was wisdom! He
had conquered by his divine improvidence; the poor man had vanquished
the wealthy. He had placed his trust in the future, and now the whole
harvest was garnered. The Beauchene factory was his through his son
Denis; the Seguins' mansion was his through his son Ambroise; the
Lepailleurs' mill was his through his son Gregoire. Tragical, even
excessive punishment, had blown those sorry Moranges away in a tempest
of blood and insanity. And other social wastage had swept by and rolled
into the gutter; Seraphine, the useless creature, had succumbed to
her passions; the Moineauds had been dispersed, annihilated by their
poisonous environment. And he, Mathieu, and Marianne alone remained
erect, face to face with that estate of Chantebled, which they had
conquered from the Seguins, and where their children, Gervais and
Claire, at present reigned, prolonging the dynasty of their race. This
was their kingdom; as far as the eye could see t