'He was still pale, but his pallor was less corpse-like. Even the little François listened and enjoyed with a mute delight--mute because shut within himself--and loved his parents, his brothers, the driver, the trees, and the buzzing flies. '"Stop," said the sick man suddenly. It was before a high gate, through which was visible a spectacle of Eden, a large garden. 'They could see a great pond, over which there could float whole broods of delicate dreams; there were tall Lombardy poplars, and the grace of weeping willows. Drooping larches also hung over the water-lilies; there were the thick shade of Canadian poplars, and also the timid murmurs, the sensitive sighs, of aspens. Then there was the charm of woodland life reflected in the water; of the landscape repeated below, symmetrical, and sombre in an abyss of oxidised silver. Then came grassy walks and gentle slopes of turf; further off were clearings in which beautiful trees were half seen, half hidden in misty distance like a promise of abundance and of happiness. The felicity of the place entered into the souls of the poor family who looked on it; they had at once the anguish of feeling that nothing like this would ever be theirs, and the ecstasy of knowing that such beauty did exist. 'Standing up in their sorry hired carriage, they gazed in rapture, saying but few words. '"One little corner of this garden would be wealth to us!" sighed the mother. '"That corner--there," said Lamarque. '"One could not eat one's garden," said Albert. 'Georges, hypnotised, followed with his eyes the flight of an insect. Poised in the sunlight, the creature was motionless awhile; then descended, ascended, then, swift as a sped arrow, vanished in the shadows. One would wish for such an atom, taking so small a place in creation, the joys, the instincts, the intelligence of a great animal. At anyrate, it symbolises all the enjoyments of life, repose on a leaf, movement, ecstasy of travel through space and towards mystery. '"Ah!" thought Georges, in distress, "even to come and see this, one must have money!" 'The hard and heavy thought was like a blow on the tender heart of the boy. Soon this bitterness entered into the souls of all, even of the youngest child.'