e till the end of November. After being treated all
this time as a friend, Derues departed for Paris, in order, he said, to
receive an inheritance which would enable him to pay the required
purchase-money.

This pretended inheritance was that of one of his wife's relations,
Monsieur Despeignes-Duplessis, who had been murdered in his country
house, near Beauvais. It has been strongly suspected that Derues was
guilty of this crime. There are, however, no positive proofs, and we
prefer only to class it as a simple possibility.

Derues had made formal promises to Monsieur de Lamotte, and it was no
longer possible for him to elude them. Either the payment must now be
made, or the contract annulled. A new correspondence began between the
creditors and the debtor; friendly letters were exchanged, full of
protestations on one side and confidence on the other. But all Derues'
skill could only obtain a delay of a few months. At length Monsieur de
Lamotte, unable to leave Buisson-Souef himself, on account of important
business which required his presence, gave his wife a power of attorney,
consented to another separation, and sent her to Paris, accompanied by
Edouard, and as if to hasten their misfortunes, sent notice of their
coming to the expectant murderer.

We have passed quickly over the interval between the first meeting of
Monsieur de Lamotte and Derues, and the moment when the victims fell into
the trap: we might easily have invented long conversations, and episodes
which would have brought Derues' profound hypocrisy into greater relief;
but the reader now knows all that we care to show him. We have purposely
lingered in our narration in the endeavour to explain the perversities of
this mysterious organisation; we have over-loaded it with all the facts
which seem to throw any light upon this sombre character. But now, after
these long preparations, the drama opens, the scenes become rapid and
lifelike; events, long impeded, accumulate and pass quickly before us,
the action is connected and hastens to an end. We shall see Derues like
an unwearied Proteus, changing names, costumes, language, multiplying
himself in many forms, scattering deceptions and lies from one end of
France to the other; and finally, after so many efforts, such prodigies
of calculation and activity, end by wrecking himself against a corpse.

The letter written at Buisson-Souef arrived at Paris the morning of the
14th of December. In the cou