Several months went by in perfect tranquillity.Monsieur de Solis made Marguerite see that her petty economies would never produce a fortune, and he advised her to live more at ease, by taking all that remained of the sum which Madame Claes had entrusted to him for the comfort and well-being of the household.
During these months Marguerite fell a prey to the anxieties which beset her mother under like circumstances.However incredulous she might be, she had come to hope in her father's genius.By an inexplicable phenomenon, many people have hope when they have no faith.Hope is the flower of Desire, faith is the fruit of Certainty.
Marguerite said to herself, "If my father succeeds, we shall be happy." Claes and Lemulquinier alone said: "We shall succeed."Unhappily, from day to day the Searcher's face grew sadder.Sometimes, when he came to dinner he dared not look at his daughter; at other times he glanced at her in triumph.Marguerite employed her evenings in making young de Solis explain to her many legal points and difficulties.At last her masculine education was completed; she was evidently preparing herself to execute the plan she had resolved upon if her father were again vanquished in his duel with the Unknown (X).
About the beginning of July, Balthazar spend a whole day sitting on a bench in the garden, plunged in gloomy meditation.He gazed at the mound now bare of tulips, at the windows of his wife's chamber; he shuddered, no doubt, as he thought of all that his search had cost him: his movements betrayed that his thoughts were busy outside of Science.Marguerite brought her sewing and sat beside him for a while before dinner.
"You have not succeeded, father?"
"No, my child."
"Ah!" said Marguerite, in a gentle voice."I will not say one word of reproach; we are both equally guilty.I only claim the fulfilment of your promise; it is surely sacred to you--you are a Claes.Your children will surround you with love and filial respect; but you now belong to me; you owe me obedience.Do not be uneasy; my reign will be gentle, and I will endeavor to bring it quickly to an end.Father, Iam going to leave you for a month; I shall be busy with your affairs;for," she said, kissing him on his brow, "you are now my child.I take Martha with me; to-morrow Felicie will manage the household.The poor child is only seventeen, and she will not know how to resist you;therefore be generous, do not ask her for money; she has only enough for the barest necessaries of the household.Take courage: renounce your labors and your thoughts for three or four years.The great problem may ripen towards discovery; by that time I shall have gathered the money that is necessary to solve it,--and you will solve it.Tell me, father, your queen is clement, is she not?""Then all is not lost?" said the old man.
"No, not if you keep your word."
"I will obey you, my daughter," answered Claes, with deep emotion.
The next day, Monsieur Conyncks of Cambrai came to fetch his great-niece.He was in a travelling-carriage, and would only remain long enough for Marguerite and Martha to make their last arrangements.
Monsieur Claes received his cousin with courtesy, but he was obviously sad and humiliated.Old Conyncks guessed his thoughts, and said with blunt frankness while they were breakfasting:--"I have some of your pictures, cousin; I have a taste for pictures,--a ruinous passion, but we all have our manias.""Dear uncle!" exclaimed Marguerite.
"The world declares that you are ruined, cousin; but the treasure of a Claes is there," said Conyncks, tapping his forehead, "and here,"striking his heart; "don't you think so? I count upon you: and for that reason, having a few spare ducats in my wallet, I put them to use in your service.""Ah!" cried Balthazar, "I will repay you with treasures--""The only treasures we possess in Flanders are patience and labor,"replied Conyncks, sternly."Our ancestor has those words engraved upon his brow," he said, pointing to the portrait of Van Claes.
Marguerite kissed her father and bade him good-bye, gave her last directions to Josette and to Felicie, and started with Monsieur Conyncks for Paris.The great-uncle was a widower with one child, a daughter twelve years old, and he was possessed of an immense fortune.
It was not impossible that he would take a wife; consequently, the good people of Douai believed that Mademoiselle Claes would marry her great-uncle.The rumor of this marriage reached Pierquin, and brought him back in hot haste to the House of Claes.
Great changes had taken place in the ideas of that clever speculator.
For the last two years society in Douai had been divided into hostile camps.The nobility formed one circle, the bourgeoisie another; the latter naturally inimical to the former.This sudden separation took place, as a matter of fact, all over France, and divided the country into two warring nations, whose jealous squabbles, always augmenting, were among the chief reasons why the revolution of July, 1830, was accepted in the provinces.Between these social camps, the one ultra-monarchical, the other ultra-liberal, were a number of functionaries of various kinds, admitted, according to their importance, to one or the other of these circles, and who, at the moment of the fall of the legitimate power, were neutral.At the beginning of the struggle between the nobility and the bourgeoisie, the royalist "cafes"displayed an unheard-of splendor, and eclipsed the liberal "cafes" so brilliantly that these gastronomic fetes were said to have cost the lives of some of their frequenters who, like ill-cast cannon, were unable to withstand such practice.The two societies naturally became exclusive.
