They stopped several days in Paris on the way home, to enable
Marguerite to pay off her father's debts and request the manufacturers
of chemical products to send nothing to Douai without first informing
her of any orders given by Claes. She persuaded her father to change
his style of dress and buy clothes that were suitable to a man of his
station. This corporal restoration gave Balthazar a certain physical
dignity which augured well for a change in his ideas; and Marguerite,
joyous in the thought of all the surprises that awaited her father
when he entered his own house, started for Douai.
Nine miles from the town Balthazar was met by Felicie on horseback,
escorted by her two brothers, Emmanuel, Pierquin, and some of the
nearest friends of the three families. The journey had necessarily
diverted the chemist's mind from its habitual thoughts; the aspect of
his own Flanders acted on his heart; when, therefore, he saw the
joyous company of his family and friends gathering about him his
emotion was so keen that the tears came to his eyes, his voice
trembled, his eyelids reddened, and he held his children in so
passionate an embrace, seeming unable to release them, that the
spectators of the scene were moved to tears.
When at last he saw the House of Claes he turned pale, and sprang from
the carriage with the agility of a young man; he breathed the air of
the court-yard with delight, and looked about him at the smallest
details with a pleasure that could express itself only in gestures: he
drew himself erect, and his whole countenance renewed its youth.
Pages:
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257