It was a painful evening; every one was embarrassed and smiled vaguely with the artificial gaiety which hides such real anxieties.  Marguerite and Balthazar were a prey to cruel, latent fears which reacted on the rest.  As the hours passed, the bearing of the father and daughter grew more and more constrained.  Sometimes Marguerite tried to smile, but her motions, her looks, the tones of her voice betrayed a keen anxiety.  Messieurs Conyncks and de Solis seemed to know the meaning of the secret feelings which agitated the noble girl, and they appeared to encourage her by expressive glances.  Balthazar, hurt at being kept from a knowledge of the steps that had been taken on his behalf, withdrew little by little from his children and friends, and pointedly kept silence.  Marguerite would no doubt soon disclose what she had decided upon for his future.

To a great man, to a father, the situation was intolerable.  At his age a man no longer dissimulates in his own family; he became more and more thoughtful, serious, and grieved as the hour approached when he would be forced to meet his civil death.  This evening covered one of those crises in the inner life of man which can only be expressed by imagery.  The thunderclouds were gathering in the sky, people were laughing in the fields; all felt the heat and knew the storm was coming, but they held up their heads and continued on their way.  Monsieur Conyncks was the first to leave the room, conducted by Balthazar to his chamber.  During the latter’s absence Pierquin and Monsieur de Solis went away.  Marguerite bade the notary good-night with much affection; she said nothing to Emmanuel, but she pressed his hand and gave him a tearful glance.  She sent Felicie away, and when Claes returned to the parlor he found his daughter alone.

“My kind father,” she said in a trembling voice, “nothing could have made me leave home but the serious position in which we found ourselves; but now, after much anxiety, after surmounting the greatest difficulties, I return with some chances of deliverance for all of us.  Thanks to your name, and to my uncle’s influence, and to the support of Monsieur de Solis, we have obtained for you an appointment under government as receiver of customs in Bretagne; the place is worth, they say, eighteen to twenty thousand francs a year.  Our uncle has given bonds as your security.  Here is the nomination,” she added, drawing a paper from her bag.  “Your life in Douai, in this house, during the coming years of privation and sacrifice would be intolerable to you.  Our father must be placed in a situation at least equal to that in which he has always lived.  I ask nothing from the salary you will receive from this appointment; employ it as you see fit.  I will only beg you to remember that we have not a penny of income, and that we must live on what Gabriel can give us out of his.  The town shall know nothing of our inner life.  If you were still to live in this house you would be an obstacle to the means my sister and I are about to employ to restore comfort and ease to the home.  Have I abused the authority you gave me by putting you in a position to remake your own fortune?  In a few years, if you so will, you can easily become the receiver-general.”