Glad to repair the almost involuntary wrong that he had done to his children, he signed the deeds in a preoccupied way.

He was now as careless and improvident as a Negro who sells his wife in the morning for a drop of brandy, and cries for her at night.

He gave no thought to even the immediate future, and never asked himself what resources he would have when his last ducat was melted up.

He pursued his work and continued his purchases, apparently unaware that he was now no more than the titular owner of his house and lands, and that he could not, thanks to the severity of the laws, raise another penny upon a property of which he was now, as it were, the legal guardian.
The year 1818 ended without bringing any new misfortune.

The sisters paid the costs of Jean's education and met all the expenses of the household out of the thirteen thousand francs a year from the sum placed in the Grand-Livre in Gabriel's name, which he punctually remitted to them.