erly borrowed, and releases of the various liens on the estates.

Balthazar, conscious that he had recovered the honor of his manhood,
the life of a father, the dignity of a citizen, fell into a chair, and
looked about for Marguerite; but she, with the distinctive delicacy of
her sex, had left the room during the reading of the papers, as if to
see that all the arrangements for the fete were properly prepared. Each
member of the family understood the old man's wish when the failing
humid eyes sought for the daughter,--who was seen by all present, with
the eyes of the soul, as an angel of strength and light within the
house. Gabriel went to find her. Hearing her step, Balthazar ran to
clasp her in his arms.

"Father," she said, at the foot of the stairs, where the old man caught
her and strained her to his breast, "I implore you not to lessen your
sacred authority. Thank me before the family for carrying out your
wishes, and be the sole author of the good that has been done here."

Balthazar lifted his eyes to heaven, then looked at his daughter, folded
his arms, and said, after a pause, during which his face recovered an
expression his children had not seen upon it for ten long years,--

"Pepita, why are you not here to praise our child!"

He strained Marguerite to him, unable to utter another word, and went
back to the parlor.

"My children," he said, with the nobility of demeanor that in former
days had made him so imposing, "we all owe gratitude and thanks to
my daughter Marguerite for the wisdom and courage with which she has
fulfilled my intentions and carried out my plans, when I, too absorbed
by my labors, gave the reins of our domestic government into her hands."

"Ah, now!" cried Pierquin, looking at the clock, "we must read the
marriage contracts. But they are not my affair, for the law forbids
me to draw up such deeds between my relations and myself. Monsieur
Raparlier is coming."

The friends of the family, invited to the dinner given to celebrate
Claes's return and the signing of the marriage contracts, now began to
arrive; and their servants brought in the wedding-presents. The company
quickly assembled, and the scene was imposing as much from the quality
of the persons present as from the elegance of the toilettes. The three
families, thus united through the happiness of their children, seemed to
vie with each other in contributing to the splendor of the occasion. The
parlor was soon filled with t