Had they taken this course, they would to-day possess France. Their
wealth would be enormous; for the value of land rises year after year.
I have, without effort, doubled my fortune in thirty years. Blauville,
which cost my father a hundred crowns in 1817, is worth to-day more
than a million: so that, when I hear the nobles complain, I shrug the
shoulder. Who but they are to blame? They impoverish themselves from
year to year. They sell their land to the peasants. Soon they will be
reduced to beggary, and their escutcheons. What consoles me is, that
the peasant, having become the proprietor of our domains will then be
all-powerful, and will yoke to his chariot wheels these traders in scrip
and stocks, whom he hates as much as I execrate them myself."
The carriage at this moment stopped in the court-yard of the de Commarin
mansion, after having described that perfect half-circle, the glory of
coachmen who preserve the old tradition.
The count alighted first, and leaning upon his son's arm, ascended the
steps of the grand entrance. In the immense vestibule, nearly all the
servants, dressed in rich liveries, stood in a line. The count gave them
a glance, in passing, as an officer might his soldiers on parade, and
proceeded to his apartment on the first floor, above the reception
rooms.
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