tly so paltry, was destined to influence the future
of the Claes family when, at a later period, they needed succor in
misfortune.

CHAPTER VIII

Balthazar was again so absorbed that he did not notice Josephine's
condition. He took Jean upon his knee and trotted him mechanically,
pondering, no doubt, the problem he now had the means of solving. He saw
them bring the footbath to his wife, who was still in the parlor,
too weak to rise from the low chair in which she was lying; he gazed
abstractedly at his daughters now attending on their mother, without
inquiring the cause of their tender solicitude. When Marguerite or
Jean attempted to speak aloud, Madame Claes hushed them and pointed to
Balthazar. Such a scene was of a nature to make a young girl think; and
Marguerite, placed as she was between her father and mother, was old
enough and sensible enough to weigh their conduct.

There comes a moment in the private life of every family when the
children, voluntarily or involuntarily, judge their parents. Madame
Claes foresaw the dangers of that moment. Her love for Balthazar
impelled her to justify in Marguerite's eyes conduct that might, to the
upright mind of a girl of sixteen, seem faulty in a father. The very
respect which she showed at this moment for her husband, making
herself and her condition of no account that nothing might disturb his
meditation, impressed her children with a sort of awe of the paternal
majesty. Such self-devotion, however infectious it might be, only
increased Marguerite's admiration for her mother, to whom she was more
particularly bound by the close intimacy of their daily lives. This
feeling was based on the intuitive perception of sufferings whose causes
naturally occupied the young girl's mind. No human power could have
hindered some chance word dropped by Martha, or by Josette, from
enlightening her as to the real reasons for the condition of her home
during the last four years. Notwithstanding Madame Claes's reserve,
Marguerite discovered slowly, thread by thread, the clue to the domestic
drama. She was soon to be her mother's active confidante, and later,
under other circumstances, a formidable judge.

Madame Claes's watchful care now centred upon her eldest daughter,
to whom she endeavored to communicate her own self-devotion towards
Balthazar. The firmness and sound judgment which she recognized in
the young girl made her tremble at the thought of a possible struggle
between