untary death; in
consequence of which abominable crime, his body was dragged upon a
hurdle, and flung to the dogs on the highway.

"'From these preliminaries, we come to the great secret, which is of
such importance to the future interests of our Society.

"'His Majesty Louis XIV., in his paternal and Catholic goodness towards
the Church in general, and our Order in particular, had granted to us
the profit of this confiscation, in acknowledgment of our services in
discovering the infamous and sacrilegious relapse of the said Rennepont.

"'But we have just learned, for certain, that a house situated in Paris,
No. 3, Rue Saint-Francois, and a sum of fifty thousand gold crowns, have
escaped this confiscation, and have consequently been stolen from our
Society.

"'The house was conveyed, before the confiscation, by means of a feigned
purchase, to a friend of Rennepont's a good Catholic, unfortunately, as
against him we cannot take any severe measures. Thanks to the culpable,
but secure connivance of his friend, the house has been walled up, and
is only to be opened in a century and a half, according to the last
will of Rennepont. As for the fifty thousand gold crowns, they have been
placed in hands which, unfortunately, are hitherto unknown to us, in
order to be invested and put out to use for one hundred and fifty years,
at the expiration of which time they are to be divided between the then
existing descendants of the said Rennepont; and it is calculated that
this sum, increased by so many accumulations, will by then have become
enormous, and will amount to at least forty or fifty millions of livres
tournois. From motives which are not known, but which are duly stated
in a testamentary document, the said Rennepont has concealed from his
family, whom the edicts against the Protestants have driven out of
France, the investment of these fifty thousand crowns; and has only
desired his relations to preserve in their line from generation to
generation, the charge to the last survivors, to meet in Paris, Rue
Saint-Francois, a hundred and fifty years hence, on February the 13th,
1832. And that this charge might not be forgotten, he employed a person,
whose description is known, but not his real occupation, to cause to
be manufactured sundry bronze medals, on which the request and date are
engraved, and to deliver one to each member of the family--a measure the
more necessary, as, from some other motive equally unknown, but pro