第45章
"Marguerite," she resumed, drawing the letter from her pillow, "here is a paper which you must not open or read until a time, after my death, when some great disaster has overtaken you; when, in short, you are without the means of living.My dear Marguerite, love your father, but take care of your brothers and your sister.In a few days, in a few hours perhaps, you will be the head of this household.Be economical.Should you find yourself opposed to the wishes of your father,--and it may so happen, because he has spent vast sums in searching for a secret whose discovery is to bring glory and wealth to his family, and he will no doubt need money, perhaps he may demand it of you,--should that time come, treat him with the tenderness of a daughter, strive to reconcile the interests of which you will be the sole protector with the duty which you owe to a father, to a great man who sacrificed his happiness and his life to the glory of his family;he can only do wrong in act, his intentions are noble, his heart is full of love; you will see him once more kind and affectionate--YOU!
Marguerite, it is my duty to say these words to you on the borders of the grave.If you wish to soften the anguish of my death, promise me, my child, to take my place beside your father; to cause him no grief;never to reproach him; never to condemn him.Be a gentle, considerate guardian of the home until--his work accomplished--he is again the master of his family.""I understand you, dear mother," said Marguerite, kissing the swollen eyelids of the dying woman."I will do as you wish.""Do not marry, my darling, until Gabriel can succeed you in the management of the property and the household.If you married, your husband might not share your feelings, he might bring trouble into the family and disturb your father's life."Marguerite looked at her mother and said, "Have you nothing else to say to me about my marriage?""Can you hesitate, my child?" cried the dying woman in alarm.
"No," the daughter answered; "I promise to obey you.""Poor girl! I did not sacrifice myself for you," said the mother, shedding hot tears."Yet I ask you to sacrifice yourself for all.
Happiness makes us selfish.Be strong; preserve your own good sense to guard others who as yet have none.Act so that your brothers and your sister may not reproach my memory.Love your father, and do not oppose him--too much."She laid her head on her pillow and said no more; her strength was gone; the inward struggle between the Wife and the Mother had been too violent.
A few moments later the clergy came, preceded by the Abbe de Solis, and the parlor was filled by the children and the household.When the ceremony was about to begin, Madame Claes, awakened by her confessor, looked about her and not seeing Balthazar said quickly,--"Where is my husband?"
Those words--summing up, as it were, her life and her death--were uttered in such lamentable tones that all present shuddered.Martha, in spite of her great age, darted out of the room, ran up the staircase and through the gallery, and knocked loudly on the door of the laboratory.
"Monsieur, madame is dying; they are waiting for you, to administer the last sacraments," she cried with the violence of indignation.
"I am coming," answered Balthazar.
Lemulquinier came down a moment later, and said his master was following him.Madame Claes's eyes never left the parlor door, but her husband did not appear until the ceremony was over.When at last he entered, Josephine colored and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Were you trying to decompose nitrogen?" she said to him with an angelic tenderness which made the spectators quiver.
"I have done it!" he cried joyfully; "Nitrogen contains oxygen and a substance of the nature of imponderable matter, which is apparently the principle of--"A murmur of horror interrupted his words and brought him to his senses.
"What did they tell me?" he demanded."Are you worse? What is the matter?""This is the matter, monsieur," whispered the Abbe de Solis, indignant at his conduct; "your wife is dying, and you have killed her."Without waiting for an answer the abbe took the arm of his nephew and went out followed by the family, who accompanied him to the court-yard.Balthazar stood as if thunderstruck; he looked at his wife, and a few tears dropped from his eyes.
"You are dying, and I have killed you!" he said."What does he mean?""My husband," she answered, "I only lived in your love, and you have taken my life away from me; but you knew not what you did.""Leave us," said Claes to his children, who now re-entered the room.
"Have I for one moment ceased to love you?" he went on, sitting down beside his wife, and taking her hands and kissing them.