"Is it true, yes or no? I do not blame you for it; on the contrary.Go with M.Agricola, child, and he will tell you, better than I can, what all the workmen of the factory owe to M, Hardy."
"M.Agricola," said Angela, tying the ribbons of her pretty cap, "what a pity that your good little adopted sister is not with us."
"Mother Bunch?--yes, you are right, mademoiselle; but that is only a pleasure put off, and the visit she paid us yesterday will not be the last."
Having embraced her mother, the girl took Agricola's arm, and they went out together.
"Dear me, M.Agricola," said Angela; "if you knew how much I was surprised on entering this fine house, after being accustomed to see so much misery amongst the poor workmen in our country, and in which I too have had my share, whilst here everybody seems happy and contented.It is really like fairy-land; I think I am in a dream, and when I ask my mother the explanation of these wonders, she tells me, `M.Agricola will explain it all to you.'"
"Do you know why I am so happy to undertake that delightful task, mademoiselle?" said Agricola, with an accent at once grave and tender.
"Nothing could be more in season."
"Why so, M.Agricola?"
"Because, to show you this house, to make you acquainted with all the resources of our association, is to be able to say to you: `Here, the workman, sure of the present, sure of the future, is not, like so many of his poor brothers, obliged to renounce the sweetest want of the heart--
the desire of choosing a companion for life--in the fear of uniting misery to misery."'
Angela cast down her eyes, and blushed.
"Here the workman may safely yield to the hope of knowing the sweet joys of a family, sure of not having his heart torn hereafter by the sight of the horrible privations of those who are dear to him; here, thanks to order and industry, and the wise employment of the strength of all, men, women, and children live happy and contented.In a ward, to explain all this to you, mademoiselle," added Agricola, smiling with a still more tender air, "is to prove, that here we can do nothing more reasonable than love, nothing wiser than marry."