Three years went by.  In 1828 family affairs called Emmanuel de Solis to Spain.  Although there were three numerous branches between himself and the inheritance of the house of Solis, yellow fever, old age, barrenness, and other caprices of fortune, combined to make him the last lineal descendant of the family and heir to the titles and estates of his ancient house.  Moreover, by one of those curious chances which seem impossible except in a book, the house of Solis had acquired the territory and titles of the Comtes de Nourho.  Marguerite did not wish to separate from her husband, who was to stay in Spain long enough to settle his affairs, and she was, moreover, curious to see the castle of Casa-Real where her mother had passed her childhood, and the city of Granada, the cradle of the de Solis family.  She left Douai, consigning the care of the house to Martha, Josette, and Lemulquinier.  Balthazar, to whom Marguerite had proposed a journey into Spain, declined to accompany her on the ground of his advanced age; but certain experiments which he had long meditated, and to which he now trusted for the realization of his hopes were the real reason of his refusal.

The Comte and Comtesse de Solis y Nourho were detained in Spain longer than they intended.  Marguerite gave birth to a son.  It was not until the middle of 1830 that they reached Cadiz, intending to embark for Italy on their way back to France.  There, however, they received a letter from Felicie conveying disastrous news.  Within a few months, their father had completely ruined himself.  Gabriel and Pierquin were obliged to pay Lemulquinier a monthly stipend for the bare necessaries of the household.  The old valet had again sacrificed his little property to his master.  Balthazar was no longer willing to see any one, and would not even admit his children to the house.  Martha and Josette were dead.  The coachman, the cook, and the other servants had long been dismissed; the horses and carriages were sold.  Though Lemulquinier maintained the utmost secrecy as to his master’s proceedings, it was believed that the thousand francs supplied by Gabriel and Pierquin were spent chiefly on experiments.  The small amount of provisions which the old valet purchased in the town seemed to show that the two old men contented themselves with the barest necessaries.  To prevent the sale of the House of Claes, Gabriel and Pierquin were paying the interest of the sums which their father had again borrowed on it.  None of his children had the slightest influence upon the old man, who at seventy years of age displayed extraordinary energy in bending everything to his will, even in matters that were trivial.  Gabriel, Conyncks, and Pierquin had decided not to pay off his debts.