Claes never spoke of his eldest daughter, and showed no interest in her departure nor any anxiety as to her silence in not writing either to him or to Felicie.  When de Solis or Pierquin asked for news of her he seemed annoyed.  Did he suspect that Marguerite was working against him?  Was he humiliated at having resigned the majestic rights of paternity to his own child?  Had he come to love her less because she was now the father, he the child?  Perhaps there were many of these reasons, many of these inexpressible feelings which float like vapors through the soul, in the mute disgrace which he laid upon Marguerite.  However great may be the great men of earth, be they known or unknown, fortunate or unfortunate in their endeavors, all have likenesses which belong to human nature.  By a double misfortune they suffer through their greatness not less than through their defects; and perhaps Balthazar needed to grow accustomed to the pangs of wounded vanity.  The life he was leading, the evenings when these four persons met together in Marguerite’s absence, were full of sadness and vague, uneasy apprehensions.  The days were barren like a parched-up soil; where, nevertheless, a few flowers grew, a few rare consolations, though without Marguerite, the soul, the hope, the strength of the family, the atmosphere seemed misty.

Two months went by in this way, during which Balthazar awaited the return of his daughter.  Marguerite was brought back to Douai by her uncle who remained at the house instead of returning to Cambrai, no doubt to lend the weight of his authority to some coup d’etat planned by his niece.  Marguerite’s return was made a family fete.  Pierquin and Monsieur de Solis were invited to dinner by Felicie and Balthazar.  When the travelling-carriage stopped before the house, the four went to meet it with demonstrations of joy.  Marguerite seemed happy to see her home once more, and her eyes filled with tears as she crossed the court-yard to reach the parlor.  When embracing her father she colored like a guilty wife who is unable to dissimulate; but her face recovered its serenity as she looked at Emmanuel, from whom she seemed to gather strength to complete a work she had secretly undertaken.

Notwithstanding the gaiety which animated all present during the dinner, father and daughter watched each other with distrust and curiosity.  Balthazar asked his daughter no questions as to her stay in Paris, doubtless to preserve his parental dignity.  Emmanuel de Solis imitated his reserve; but Pierquin, accustomed to be told all family secrets, said to Marguerite, concealing his curiosity under a show of liveliness:—­

“Well, my dear cousin, you have seen Paris and the theatres—­”

“I have seen little of Paris,” she said; “I did not go there for amusement.  The days went by sadly, I was so impatient to see Douai once more.”

“Yes, if I had not been angry about it she would not have gone to the Opera; and even there she was uneasy,” said Monsieur Conyncks.