This was a period not of rest, but of a great calm, with regular work under a pure sky. Whilst waiting for hatching time, Pasteur continued to dictate to his wife the book he had mentioned to J. B. Dumas in a letter from St. Hippolyte le Fort. But the projected little book was changing its shape and growing into a two-volume work full of facts and documents. It was ready to publish by April, 1870. When the moment for hatching the seed had arrived, Pasteur distributed twenty-five ounces among the tenants and kept twenty-five ounces for himself. An incident disturbed these days of work: a steward, who had by him an old box of Japanese seed, sold this suspicious seed with the rest. The idea that confiding peasants had thus been swindled sent Pasteur beside himself; in his violent anger he sent for this steward, overwhelmed him with reproaches and forbade him ever to show his face before him again. “The Marshal,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur, “has told me of the swindles you have come across and which have upset you so much. Do not worry unreasonably; if I were you I would merely insert a line in a local paper: ‘M. Pasteur is only answerable for the seeds he himself sells to cultivators.’” Those cultivators soon were duly edified. The results of the seeding process were represented by a harvest of cocoons which brought in, after all expenses were paid, a profit of 22,000 francs, the first profit earned by the property for ten years. This was indeed an Imperial present from Pasteur; the Emperor was amazed and delighted. The Government then desired to do for Pasteur what had been done for Dumas and Claude Bernard, that is, give him a seat in the Senate. His most decided partisan was the competitor that several political personages suggested against him: Henri Sainte Claire Deville. Deville wrote to Mme. Pasteur in June: “You must know that if Pasteur becomes a Senator, and Pasteur alone, you understand--for they cannot elect two chemists at once!--it will be a triumph for your friend--a triumph and an unmixed pleasure.” The projected decree was one of eighteen then in preparation. The final list--the last under the Empire--where Emile Augier was to represent French literature was postponed from day to day. Pasteur left Villa Vicentina on July 6, taking with him the gratitude of the people whose good genius he had been for nearly eight months. In northern Italy, as well as in Austria, his process of cellular seeding was now applied with success.