tayed for more than two months, only
returning to town in time to prepare for the fete which Claes determined
to give, as in former years, to commemorate his wedding-day. He now
began by degrees to obtain proof of the disorder which his experiments
and his indifference had brought into his business affairs.

Madame Claes, far from irritating the wound by remarking on it,
continually found remedies for the evil that was done. Of the seven
servants who customarily served the family, there now remained only
Lemulquinier, Josette the cook, and an old waiting-woman, named Martha,
who had never left her mistress since the latter left her convent. It
was of course impossible to give a fete to the whole society of Douai
with so few servants, but Madame Claes overcame all difficulties by
proposing to send to Paris for a cook, to train the gardener's son as
a waiter, and to borrow Pierquin's manservant. Thus the pinched
circumstances of the family passed unnoticed by the community.

During the twenty days of preparation for the fete, Madame Claes was
cleverly able to outwit her husband's listlessness. She commissioned him
to select the rarest plants and flowers to decorate the grand staircase,
the gallery, and the salons; then she sent him to Dunkerque to order one
of those monstrous fish which are the glory of the burgher tables in the
northern departments. A fete like that the Claes were about to give is a
serious affair, involving thought and care and active correspondence, in
a land where traditions of hospitality put the family honor so much
at stake that to servants as well as masters a grand dinner is like a
victory won over the guests. Oysters arrived from Ostend, grouse were
imported from Scotland, fruits came from Paris; in short, not the
smallest accessory was lacking to the hereditary luxury.

A ball at the House of Claes had an importance of its own. The
government of the department was then at Douai, and the anniversary fete
of the Claes usually opened the winter season and set the fashion to the
neighborhood. For fifteen years, Balthazar had endeavored to make it
a distinguished occasion, and had succeeded so well that the fete was
talked of throughout a circumference of sixty miles, and the toilettes,
the guests, the smallest details, the novelties exhibited, and the
events that took place, were discussed far and wide. These preparations
now prevented Claes from thinking, for the time being, of the Alkahest.
Sin