Gabriel, now holding an appointment under government as engineer in
the department of Roads and Bridges, made a rapid fortune, aided by
his great-uncle, in a canal which he was able to construct; moreover,
he succeeded in pleasing his cousin Mademoiselle Conyncks, the idol of
her father, and one of the richest heiresses in Flanders. In 1824 the
whole Claes property was free, and the house in the rue de Paris had
repaired its losses. Pierquin made a formal application to Balthazar
for the hand of Felicie, and Monsieur de Solis did the same for that
of Marguerite.
At the beginning of January, 1825, Marguerite and Monsieur Conyncks
left Douai to bring home the exiled father, whose return was eagerly
desired by all, and who had sent in his resignation that he might
return to his family and crown their happiness by his presence.
Marguerite had often expressed a regret at not being able to replace
the pictures which had formerly adorned the gallery and the
reception-rooms, before the day when her father would return as master
of his house. In her absence Pierquin and Monsieur de Solis plotted with
Felicie to prepare a surprise which should make the younger sister a
sharer in the restoration of the House of Claes. The two bought a
number of fine pictures, which they presented to Felicie to decorate
the gallery. Monsieur Conyncks had thought of the same thing. Wishing
to testify to Marguerite the satisfaction he had taken in her noble
conduct and in the self-devotion with which she had fulfilled her
mother's dying mandate, he arranged that fifty of his fine pictures,
among them several of those which Balthazar had formerly sold, should
be brought to Douai in Marguerite's absence, so that the Claes gallery
might once more be complete.
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