Fall 1616-1620

A trouble shared is a trouble halved, tried to think Marcelet as the sorrow seemed endless.

In 1616, when his youngest son was born Marcelet had the courage to hope that God was finally merciful to his family.Margot, his second wife, gave birth without complications to a healthy baby boy and Haiete, his youngest daughter, along with Guillaume, Margot's son, were getting along very well, practically raising each other and helping their parents.

Guillaume and his step-sister, Haiete, resting after a tiring day of work with their parents.

Two years passes by without other major events.The crop looked well and with Margot's money from her first deceased husband they were able to buy and cultivate some more acres of land, so everyone was sure that they will have a lot of work to do in the fall.

Unfortunately, in 1618 little Marcelet, their youngest son, started showing signs of pneumonia and died in just a couple of months, cut down by the high fever.His sister Haiete and his mother, Margot were devastated by his death.Marcelet and Guillaume tried to be strong for their family, but poor Marcelet couldn't stop murmuring curse words.

Blinded by rage and sorrow, he blamed God for all his griefs and even refused his son to be laid in the ground by a Catholic priest.

Seeing her father so weak, Haiete couldn't stop her tears from falling down her cheeks and burning her skin.She couldn't recall feeling so lonely and so helpless ever in her short life until now.

Of course, their mother's death, only one year later nearly lead the way to Marcelet's suicide.

In 1919 Margot died few weeks after giving birth to another son, Clement.Unable to feed her son because of her illness, the baby didn't seem to have too many survival chances, especially now, that the winter was closer.

After carrying out his second wife, Marcelet would never be the same man.He started keeping away from his children, letting Haiete and Guillaume to take care of the feeble baby who wasn't even strong enough to cry from his cradle, where he spent most of his days.

In this time, all Haiete and Guillaume could do was simply watch their father turning in on himself, getting isolated in his own world.He left home early in the morning, long before the sunrise and simply took to the roads, often to come back home some days later.

But when they heard him talking to himself like he would have been talking to his first wife, Cherestienne, the two children knew something was very wrong to him and started fearing that he might do something to take his own life.

Because there was no way Marcelet would ever marry another woman and also because Haiete was still too young and especially too poor to get married, Guillaume decided that he had to find a wife for himself, because only he and his step-sister couldn't care for a baby and a madman by themselves, while working to survive.