CHAPTER XI.
Several months went by and brought no change to the House of Claes.
Gabriel, under the wise management of his tutor, Monsieur de Solis, worked studiously, acquired foreign languages, and prepared to pass the necessary examinations to enter the Ecole Polytechnique.

Marguerite and Felicie lived in absolute retirement, going in summer to their father's country place as a measure of economy.

Monsieur Claes attended to his business affairs, paid his debts by borrowing a considerable sum of money on his property, and went to see the forest at Waignies.
About the middle of the year 1817, his grief, slowly abating, left him a prey to solitude and defenceless under the monotony of the life he was leading, which heavily oppressed him.

At first he struggled bravely against the allurements of Science as they gradually beset him; he forbade himself even to think of Chemistry.

Then he did think of it.
Still, he would not actively take it up, and only gave his mind to his researches theoretically.