n to you, a man of law, all the manoeuvres
employed to entrap the refugees who had large fortunes to carry away. It
is enough to say that the lands of Negrepelisse, comprising twenty-two
churches and rights over the town, and those of Gravenges which had
formerly belonged to us, were at that time in the hands of a Protestant
family. My grandfather recovered them by gift from Louis XIV. This gift
was effected by documents hall-marked by atrocious iniquity. The owner
of these two estates, thinking he would be able to return, had gone
through the form of a sale, and was going to Switzerland to join his
family, whom he had sent in advance. He wished, no doubt, to take
advantage of every delay granted by the law, so as to settle the
concerns of his business.

"This man was arrested by order of the governor, the trustee confessed
the truth, the poor merchant was hanged, and my ancestor had the two
estates. I would gladly have been able to ignore the share he took in
the plot; but the governor was his uncle on the mother's side, and I
have unfortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply to
Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate the King. In
this letter there is a tone of jocosity with reference to the victim,
which filled me with horror. In the end, the sums of money sent by the
refugee family to ransom the poor man were kept by the governor, who
despatched the merchant all the same."

The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were still too heavy for
him to bear.

"This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud," he went on. "That name
is enough to account for my conduct. I could never think without keen
pain of the secret disgrace that weighed on my family. That fortune
enabled my grandfather to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins-Lansac,
heiress to the younger branch of that house, who were at that time much
richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. My father thus became
one of the largest landowners in the kingdom. He was able to marry
my mother, a Grandlieu of the younger branch. Though ill-gotten, this
property has been singularly profitable.

"For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief, I wrote
to Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the traces of the
Protestant victim's heirs. At last I discovered that the Jeanrenauds,
reduced to abject want, had left Fribourg and returned to live in
France. Finally, I found a M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry
regiment