By living in it she recalled the painful memories which her mother's death had caused, and succeeded for a time in re-awaking her father's grief, and retarding his plunge into the gulf to the depths of which he was, nevertheless, doomed to fall.

She determined to go into society and force Balthazar to share in its distractions.
Several good marriages were proposed to her, which occupied Claes's mind, but to all of them she replied that she should not marry until after she was twenty-five.

But in spite of his daughter's efforts, in spite of his remorseful struggles, Balthazar, at the beginning of the winter, returned secretly to his researches.

It was difficult, however, to hide his operations from the inquisitive women in the kitchen; and one morning Martha, while dressing Marguerite, said to her:-- "Mademoiselle, we are as good as lost.

That monster of a Mulquinier--who is a devil disguised, for I never saw him make the sign of the cross--has gone back to the garret.