"And Michel, too, my dear Valentine. Yes, we have worked night and day at all sorts of avocations for several years. I had six thousand francs left out of the ten thousand I had asked for when I married. A friend of Michel's undertook to straighten out his affairs, and managed to save fifteen thousand francs out of the wreck. Both amounts were carefully invested, as we were resolved not to touch a penny of either principal or interest, so we might gain the forty thousand francs needed to secure our paradise the sooner." "To think that you and Michel should be capable of anything like this!" "What, it surprises you?" "Of course it does." "But you must remember how terribly indolent Michel and I are!" "That is the very reason it astonishes me so much." "But that is the very reason it should not." "Should not?" "Certainly. Think what a powerful incentive, what a sharp spur, our indolence was!" "Your indolence?" "Yes; think what courage and energy and ardour it must excite in your breast, when you say to yourself at the close of each day, however harassed one may have been, and whatever privations one may have had to endure: 'I am one step nearer liberty, independence, rest, and the bliss of doing nothing.' Yes, Valentine, yes; and the more fatigued one feels, the more eagerly he looks forward to the ineffable happiness he hopes to enjoy some day. We are told, you know, that celestial happiness must be gained by trials and tribulations here below. The same rule holds good in this case, only,--strictly _entre nous_ of course,--I would rather enjoy my little paradise here on earth than wait for the other." Madame d'Infreville was so astonished at what she had heard, and she gazed at her friend with such a bewildered air, that Florence, wishing to give her time to recover from her surprise, paused for a moment. CHAPTER XIX. PAST STRUGGLES. Recovering from her amazement at last, Madame d'Infreville said: "Really, Florence, I hardly know whether I am awake or dreaming. Once more, I ask, is it possible that a person as indolent and fond of ease as you have always been could evince such wonderful courage and energy?" "Ah, I shall be obliged to go into particulars, I see. Have you any idea of the kind of life we have led for the last four years,--Michel and I, I mean?" "I was told that you both went out every morning before light, and did not return until late at night."