Four years after Balthazar Claes's departure from his home Marguerite
had almost recovered the property of her brothers and sister. Two
hundred thousand francs, lent to her by Emmanuel, had sufficed to put
up the farm buildings. Neither help nor counsel was withheld from the
brave girl, whose conduct excited the admiration of the whole town.
Marguerite superintended the buildings, and looked after her contracts
and leases with the good sense, activity, and perseverance, which
women know so well how to call up when they are actuated by a strong
sentiment. By the fifth year she was able to apply thirty thousand
francs from the rental of the farms, together with the income from the
Funds standing in her brother's name, and the proceeds of her father's
property, towards paying off the mortgages on that property, and
repairing the devastation which her father's passion had wrought in
the old mansion of the Claes. This redemption went on more rapidly as
the interest account decreased. Emmanuel de Solis persuaded Marguerite
to take the remaining one hundred thousand francs of his uncle's
bequest, and by joining to it twenty thousand francs of his own
savings, pay off in the third year of her management a large slice of
the debts. This life of courage, privation, and endurance was never
relaxed for five years; but all went well,--everything prospered under
the administration and influence of Marguerite Claes.
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