r acting with the discretion of an
accomplice or really ignorant of her husband's proceedings, could not
say where he was likely to be found. She said that he told her nothing
about his actions, and that Monsieur de Lamotte must have observed
during their stay at Buisson (which was true) that she never questioned
him, but obeyed his wishes in everything; and that he had now gone
away without saying where he was going. She acknowledged that Madame de
Lamotte had lodged with them for six weeks, and that she knew that
lady had been at Versailles, but since then she had heard nothing. All
Monsieur de Lamotte's questions, his entreaties, prayers, or threats,
obtained no other answer. He went to the lawyer in the rue de Paon, to
the schoolmaster, and found the same uncertainty, the same ignorance.
His wife and his son had gone to Versailles, there the clue ended which
ought to guide his investigations. He went to this town; no one could
give him any information, the very name of Lamotte was unknown. He
returned to Paris, questioned and examined the people of the quarter,
the proprietor of the Hotel de France, where his wife had stayed on her
former visit; at length, wearied with useless efforts, he implored help
from justice. Then his complaints ceased; he was advised to maintain a
prudent silence, and to await Derues' return.

The latter thoroughly understood that, having failed to dissipate
Monsieur de Lamotte's fears, there was no longer an instant to lose, and
that the pretended private contract of February 12th would not of itself
prove the existence of Madame de Lamotte. This is how he employed the
time spent by the unhappy husband in fruitless investigation.

On March 12th, a woman, her face hidden in the hood of her cloak, or
"Therese," as it was then called, appeared in the office of Maitre
N-----, a notary at Lyons. She gave her name as Marie Francoise
Perffier, wife of Monsieur Saint-Faust de Lamotte, but separated, as
to goods and estate, from him. She caused a deed to be drawn up,
authorising her husband to receive the arrears of thirty thousand livres
remaining from the price of the estate of Buisson-Souef, situated near
Villeneuve-le-Roi-lez-Sens. The deed was drawn up and signed by Madame
de Lamotte, by the notary, and one of his colleagues.

This woman was Derues. If we remember that he only arrived at Buisson
February 28th, and remained there for some days, it becomes difficult
to understand how at that pe