She ran to the laboratory and found it filled with scientific instruments, the same as ever.

Then she returned to her own appartement and ordered the door to be broken open--her father had respected it! Marguerite burst into tears and forgave her father all.

In the midst of his devastating fury he had stopped short, restrained by paternal feeling and the gratitude he owed to his daughter! This proof of tenderness, coming to her at a moment when despair had reached its climax, brought about in Marguerite's soul one of those moral reactions against which the coldest hearts are powerless.

She returned to the parlor to wait her father's arrival, in a state of anxiety that was cruelly aggravated by doubt and uncertainty.

In what condition was she about to see him?
Ruined, decrepit, suffering, enfeebled by the fasts his pride compelled him to undergo?
Would he have his reason?
Tears flowed unconsciously from her eyes as she looked about the desecrated sanctuary.