His reverence for established formulas caused him to be
out of sympathy with the advanced school of painting advocated by Claude
Lantier and his friends, though he expressed large ideals regarding his
own profession. In time he became a first-class pupil at the school, and
with infinite trouble gained the regulation "honourable mention." But
his parents no longer sent him any money; it became necessary for him
to gain his living, and he was already tired of earning a few francs by
assisting an architect incapable of drawing his own plans. By the aid of
his master, Dequersonniere, he gained a medal for a plan of a villa, and
this brought him prominently under the notice of Margaillan, a wealthy
building contractor, whose daughter Regine he married soon afterwards.
The marriage was not a success; his wife was always ailing, and the two
children which were born to them were so delicate as to cause constant
anxiety. His business relations with his father-in-law were a failure,
some of his ventures resulting in heavy loss, and Margaillan soon thrust
him aside. His only satisfaction was that he had been able to repay
to his parents the money they advanced for his education in Paris.
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