y! The seed of the unknown was sown, and would grow into a crop of
fabulous magnitude.

For the moment Benjamin was the only one who cried amid the enthusiasm
which drowned his words: "Yes, yes, I want to live. Take me, take me
with you!"

But Dominique resumed, by way of conclusion: "And there is one thing,
grandfather, which I have not yet told you. My father has given the name
of Chantebled to our farm yonder. He often tells us how you founded your
estate here, in an impulse of far-seeing audacity, although everybody
jeered and shrugged their shoulders and declared that you must be mad.
And, yonder, my father has to put up with the same derision, the same
contemptuous pity, for people declare that the good Niger will some day
sweep away our village, even if a band of prowling natives does not kill
and eat us! But I'm easy in mind about all that, we shall conquer as
you conquered, for what seems to be the folly of action is really divine
wisdom. There will be another kingdom of the Froments yonder, another
huge Chantebled, of which you and my grandmother will be the ancestors,
the distant patriarchs, worshipped like deities.... And I drink to your
health, grandfather, and I drink to yours, grandmother, on behalf of
your other future people, who will grow up full of spirit under the
burning sun of the tropics!"

Then with great emotion Mathieu, who had risen, replied in a powerful
voice: "To your health! my boy. To the health of my son Nicolas, his
wife, Lisbeth, and all who have been born from them! And to the health
of all who will follow, from generation to generation!"

And Marianne, who had likewise risen, in her turn said: "To the health
of your wives, and your daughters, your spouses and your mothers! To the
health of those who will love and produce the greatest sum of life, in
order that the greatest possible sum of happiness may follow!"

Then, the banquet ended, they quitted the table and spread freely over
the lawn. There was a last ovation around Mathieu and Marianne, who were
encompassed by their eager offspring. At one and the same time a score
of arms were outstretched, carrying children, whose fair or dark heads
they were asked to kiss. Aged as they were, returning to a divine
state of childhood, they did not always recognize those little lads and
lasses. They made mistakes, used wrong names, fancied that one child
was another. Laughter thereupon arose, the mistakes were rectified, and
appeals were