her particulars, which were now well
known throughout the town. He told her that it was probably that her
husband owed considerable sums of money to the house which furnished him
with chemicals. That house, after making inquiries as to the fortune and
credit of Monsieur Claes, accepted all his orders and sent the supplies
without hesitation, notwithstanding the heavy sums of money which became
due. Madame Claes requested Pierquin to obtain the bill for all the
chemicals that had been furnished to her husband.

Two months later, Messieurs Protez and Chiffreville, manufacturers
of chemical products, sent in a schedule of accounts rendered, which
amounted to over one hundred thousand francs. Madame Claes and Pierquin
studied the document with an ever-increasing surprise. Though
some articles, entered in commercial and scientific terms, were
unintelligible to them, they were frightened to see entries of precious
metals and diamonds of all kinds, though in small quantities. The large
sum total of the debt was explained by the multiplicity of the articles,
by the precautions needed in transporting some of them, more especially
valuable machinery, by the exorbitant price of certain rare chemicals,
and finally by the cost of instruments made to order after the designs
of Monsieur Claes himself.

The notary had made inquiries, in his client's interest, as to Messieurs
Protez and Chiffreville, and found that their known integrity was
sufficient guarantee as to the honesty of their operations with Monsieur
Claes, to whom, moreover, they frequently sent information of results
obtained by chemists in Paris, for the purpose of sparing him expense.
Madame Claes begged the notary to keep the nature of these purchases
from the knowledge of the people of Douai, lest they should declare the
whole thing a mania; but Pierquin replied that he had already delayed to
the very last moment the notarial deeds which the importance of the
sum borrowed necessitated, in order not to lessen the respect in which
Monsieur Claes was held. He then revealed the full extent of the evil,
telling her plainly that if she could not find means to prevent her
husband from thus madly making way with his property, in six months the
patrimonial fortune of the Claes would be mortgaged to its full value.
As for himself, he said, the remonstrances he had already made to his
cousin, with all the consideration due to a man so justly respected, had
been wholly unavailing