At last, Marguerite, the least pretty of the girls--indeed, she was quite
plain, but derived a charm from her infinite goodness of heart--was
chosen in marriage by Dr. Chambouvet, a big, genial, kindly fellow, who
had inherited his father's practice at Vieux-Bourg, where he lived in a
large white house, which had become the resort of the poor. And thus the
three girls being married, the only ones who remained with Mathieu and
Marianne in the slowly emptying nest were their two last boys, Nicolas
and Benjamin.
At the same time, however, as the youngsters flew away and installed
themselves elsewhere, there came other little ones, a constant swarming
due to the many family marriages. In eight years, Denis, who reigned at
the factory in Paris, had been presented by his wife with three children,
two boys, Lucien and Paul, and a girl, Hortense. Then Leonce, the son of
Ambroise, who was conquering such a high position in the commercial
world, now had a brother, Charles, and two little sisters, Pauline and
Sophie. At the farm, moreover, Gervais was already the father of two
boys, Leon and Henri, while Claire, his sister, could count three
children, a boy, Joseph, and two daughters, Lucile and Angele.
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