All was disaster in his home. Celeste the maid had long since been
dismissed, and the children were now in the charge of a certain German
governess called Nora, who virtually ruled the house. Her position with
respect to Seguin was evident to one and all; but then, what of Seguin's
wife and Santerre? The worst was, that this horrible life, which seemed
to be accepted on either side, was known to the children, or, at all
events, to the elder daughter Lucie, yet scarcely in her teens. There had
been terrible scenes with this child, who evinced a mystical disposition,
and was ever talking of becoming a nun when she grew up. Gaston, her
brother, resembled his father; he was brutal in his ways, narrow-minded,
supremely egotistical. Very different was the little girl Andree, whom La
Catiche had suckled. She had become a pretty child--so affectionate,
docile, and gay, that she scarcely complained even of her brother's
teasing, almost bullying ways. "What a pity," thought Mathieu, "that so
lovable a child should have to grow up amid such surroundings!"
And then his thoughts turned to his own home--to Chantebled. The debts
contracted at the outset of his enterprise had at last been paid, and he
alone was now the master there, resolved to have no other partners than
his wife and children.
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