m. etienne saint-faust de lamotte, a provincial nobleman of ancient lineage and moderate health, ex-equerry to the king, desired in the year 1774 to dispose of a property in the country, the estate of buisson-souef near villeneuve-le-roi, which he had purchased some ten years before out of money acquired by a prudent marriage.
with an eye to the main chance m. de lamotte had in 1760 ran away with the daughter of a wealthy citizen of rheims, who was then staying with her sister in paris. they lived together in the country for some time, and a son was born to them, whom the father legitimised by subsequently marrying the mother. for a few years m. and mme. de lamotte dwelt happily together at buisson-souef. but as their boy grew up they became anxious to leave the country and return to paris, where m. de lamotte hoped to be able to obtain for his son some position about the court of louis xvi. and so it was that in may, 1775, m. de lamotte gave a power of attorney to his wife in order that she might go to paris and negotiate for the sale of buisson-souef. the legal side of the transaction was placed in the hands of one jolly, a proctor at the chatelet in paris.
now the proctor jolly had a client with a great desire to acquire a place in the country, m. derues de cyrano de bury, lord of candeville, herchies, and other places. here was the very man to comply with the requirements of the de lamottes, and such a pleasing, ready, accommodating gentleman into the bargain! very delicate to all appearances, strangely pale, slight, fragile in build, with his beardless chin and feminine cast of feature, there was something cat-like in the soft insinuating smile of this seemingly most amiable, candid and pious of men. always cheerful and optimistic, it was quite a pleasure to do business with m. derues de cyrano de bury. the de lamottes after one or two interviews were delighted with their prospective purchaser. everything was speedily settled. m. derues and his wife, a lady belonging to the distinguished family of nicolai, visited buisson-souef. they were enchanted with what they saw, and their hosts were hardly less enchanted with their visitors. by the end of december, 1775, the purchase was concluded. m. derues was to give 130,000 livres (about l20,000) for the estate, the payments to be made by instalments, the first of 12,000 livres to be paid on the actual signing of the contract of sale, which, it was agreed, was to be concluded not later than the first of june, 1776. in the meantime, as an earnest of good faith, m. derues gave mme. de lamotte a bill for 4,200 livres to fall due on april 1, 1776.
what could be more satisfactory? that m. derues was a substantial person there could be no doubt. through his wife he was entitled to a sum of 250,000 livres as her share of the property of a wealthy kinsman, one despeignes-duplessis, a country gentleman, who some four years before had been found murdered in his house under mysterious circumstances. the liquidation of the duplessis inheritance, as soon as the law's delay could be overcome, would place the derues in a position of affluence fitting a cyrano de bury and a nicolai.
at this time m. derues was in reality far from affluent. in point of fact he was insolvent. nor was his lineage, nor that of his wife, in any way distinguished. he had no right to call himself de cyrano de bury or lord of candeville. his wife's name was nicolais, not nicolai—a very important difference from the genealogical point of view. the duplessis inheritance, though certainly existent, would seem to have had little more chance of realisation than the mythical crawford millions of madame humbert. and yet, crippled with debt, without a penny in the world, this daring grocer of the rue beaubourg, for such was m. derues' present condition in life, could cheerfully and confidently engage in a transaction as considerable as the purchase of a large estate for 130,000 livres! the origin of so enterprising a gentleman is worthy of attention.
antoine francois derues was born at chartres in 1744; his father was a corn merchant. his parents died when he was three years old. for some time after his birth he was assumed to be a girl; it was not until he was twelve years old that an operation determined his sex to be masculine. apprenticed by his relatives to a grocer, derues succeeded so well in the business that he was able in 1770 to set up on his own account in paris, and in 1772 he married. among the grocer's many friends and acquaintances this marriage created something of a sensation, for derues let it be known that the lady of his choice was of noble birth and an heiress. the first statement was untrue. the lady was one marie louise nicolais, daughter of a non-commissioned artillery officer, turned coachbuilder. but by suppressing the s at the end of her name, which derues was careful also to erase in his marriage contract, the ambitious grocer was able to describe his wife as connected with the noble house of nicolai, one of the most distinguished of the great french families.
there was more truth in the statement that mme. derues was an heiress. a kinsman of her mother, beraud by name, had become the heir to a certain marquis desprez. beraud was the son of a small merchant. his mother had married a second time, the husband being the marquis desprez, and through her beraud had inherited the marquis' property. according to the custom of the time, beraud, on coming into his inheritance, took a title from one of his estates and called himself thenceforth the lord of despeignes-duplessis. a rude, solitary, brutal man, devoted to sport, he lived alone in his castle of candeville, hated by his neighbours, a terror to poachers. one day he was found lying dead in his bedroom; he had been shot in the chest; the assassin had escaped through an open window.
the mystery of beraud's murder was never solved. his estate of 200,000 livres was divided among three cousins, of whom the mother of mme. derues was one. mme. derues herself was entitled to a third of his mother's share of the estate, that is, one-ninth of the whole. but in 1775 derues acquired the rest of the mother's share on condition that he paid her an annual income of 1,200 livres. thus on the liquidation of the duplessis inheritance mme. derues would be entitled nominally to some 66,500 livres, about l11,000 in english money. but five years had passed since the death of despeignes-duplessis, and the estate was still in the slow process of legal settlement. if derues were to receive the full third of the duplessis inheritance—a very unlikely supposition after four years of liquidation—66,000 livres would not suffice to pay his ordinary debts quite apart from the purchase money of buisson-souef. his financial condition was in the last degree critical. not content with the modest calling of a grocer, derues had turned money-lender, a money-lender to spendthrift and embarrassed noblemen. derues dearly loved a lord; he wanted to become one himself; it delighted him to receive dukes and marquises at the rue beaubourg, even if they came there with the avowed object of raising the wind. the smiling grocer, in his everlasting bonnet and flowered dressing-gown a la j. j. rousseau, was ever ready to oblige the needy scion of a noble house. what he borrowed at moderate interest from his creditors he lent at enhanced interest to the quality. duns and bailiffs jostled the dukes and marquises whose presence at the rue beaubourg so impressed the wondering neighbours of the facile grocer.
this aristocratic money-lending proved a hopeless trade; it only plunged derues deeper and deeper into the mire of financial disaster. the noblemen either forgot to pay while they were alive, or on their death were found to be insolvent. derues was driven to ordering goods and merchandise on credit, and selling them at a lower price for ready money. victims of this treatment began to press him seriously for their money or their goods. desperately he continued to fence them off with the long expected windfall of the duplessis inheritance.
paris was getting too hot for him. gay and irrepressible as he was, the strain was severe. if he could only find some retreat in the country where he might enjoy at once refuge from his creditors and the rank and consequence of a country gentleman! nothing—no fear, no disappointment, no disaster—could check the little grocer's ardent and overmastering desire to be a gentleman indeed, a landed proprietor, a lord or something or other. at the beginning of 1775 he had purchased a place near rueil from a retired coffeehouse-keeper, paying 1,000 livres on account, but the non-payment of the rest of the purchase-money had resulted in the annulment of the contract. undefeated, derues only determined to fly the higher. having failed to pay 9,000 livres for a modest estate near rueil, he had no hesitation in pledging himself to pay 130,000 livres for the lordly domain of buisson-souef. so great were his pride and joy on the conclusion of the latter bargain that he amused himself by rehearsing on paper his future style and title: "antoine francois de cyrano derues de bury, seigneur de buisson-souef et valle profonde." he is worthy of thackeray's pen, this little grocer-snob, with his grand and ruinous acquaintance with the noble and the great, his spurious titles, his unwearied climbing of the social ladder.
the confiding, if willing, dupe of aristocratic impecuniosity, derues was a past master of the art of duping others. from the moment of the purchase of buisson-souef all his art was employed in cajoling the trusting and simple de lamottes. legally buisson-souef was his from the signing of the agreement in december, 1775. his first payment was due in april, 1776. instead of making it, derues went down to buisson-souef with his little girl, and stayed there as the guests of the de lamottes for six months. his good humour and piety won all hearts. the village priest especially derived great satisfaction from the society of so devout a companion. he entertained his good friends, the merry little man, by dressing up as a woman, a role his smooth face and effeminate features well fitted him to play. if business were alluded to, the merry gentleman railed at the delay and chicanery of lawyers; it was that alone that postponed the liquidation of the duplessis inheritance; as soon as the lawyers could be got rid of, the purchase-money of his new estate would be promptly paid up. but as time went on and no payment was forthcoming the de lamottes began to feel a little uneasy. as soon as derues had departed in november m. de lamotte decided to send his wife to paris to make further inquiries and, if possible, bring their purchaser up to the scratch. mme. de lamotte had developed into a stout, indolent woman, of the mrs. bloss type, fond of staying in bed and taking heavy meals. her son, a fat, lethargic youth of fourteen, accompanied his mother.
on hearing of mme. de lamotte's contemplated visit to paris, derues was filled with alarm. if she were living free and independent in paris she might find out the truth about the real state of his affairs, and then good-bye to buisson-souef and landed gentility! no, if mme. de lamotte were to come to paris, she must come as the guest of the derues, a pleasant return for the hospitality accorded to the grocer at buisson-souef. the invitation was given and readily accepted; m. de lamotte still had enough confidence in and liking for the derues to be glad of the opportunity of placing his wife under their roof. and so it was that on december 16, 1776, mme. de lamotte arrived at paris and took up her abode at the house of the derues in the rue beaubourg her son she placed at a private school in a neighbouring street.
to derues there was now one pressing and immediate problem to be solved—how to keep buisson-souef as his own without paying for it? to one less sanguine, less daring, less impudent and desperate in his need, the problem would have appeared insoluble.
but that was by no means the view of the cheery and resourceful grocer. he had a solution ready, well thought out and bearing to his mind the stamp of probability. he would make a fictitious payment of the purchase-money to mme. de lamotte. she would then disappear, taking her son with her. her indiscretion in having been the mistress of de lamotte before she became his wife, would lend colour to his story that she had gone off with a former lover, taking with her the money which derues had paid her for buisson-souef. he would then produce the necessary documents proving the payment of the purchase-money, and buisson-souef would be his for good and all.
the prime necessity to the success of this plan was the disappearance, willing or unwilling, of mme. de lamotte and her son. the former had settled down quite comfortably beneath the hospitable roof of the derues, and under the soothing influence of her host showed little vigour in pressing him for the money due to herself and her husband. she had already spent a month in quietly enjoying paris and the society of her friends when, towards the end of january, 1770, her health and that of her son began to fail. mme. de lamotte was seized with sickness and internal trouble. though derues wrote to her husband that his wife was well and their business was on the point of conclusion, by the 30th of january mme. de lamotte had taken to her bed, nursed and physicked by the ready derues. on the 31st the servant at the rue beaubourg was told that she could go to her home at montrouge, whither derues had previously sent his two children. mme. derues, who was in an interesting condition, was sent out for an hour by her husband to do some shopping. derues was alone with his patient.
in the evening a friend, one bertin, came to dine with derues. bertin was a short, hustling, credulous, breathless gentleman, always in a hurry, with a great belief in the abilities of m. derues. he found the little man in excellent spirits. bertin asked if he could see mme. de lamotte. mme. derues said that that was impossible, but that her husband had given her some medicine which was working splendidly. the young de lamotte called to see his mother. derues took him into her room; in the dim light the boy saw her sleeping, and crept out quietly for fear of disturbing her. the derues and their friends sat down to dinner. derues kept jumping up and running into the sick room, from which a horrible smell began to pervade the house. but derues was radiant at the success of his medicine. "was there ever such a nurse as i am?" he exclaimed. bertin remarked that he thought it was a woman's and not a man's place to nurse a lady under such distressing circumstances. derues protested that it was an occupation he had always liked. next day, february 1, the servant was still at montrouge; mme. derues was again sent out shopping; again derues was alone with his patient. but she was a patient no longer; she had become a corpse. the highly successful medicine administered to the poor lady by her jolly and assiduous nurse had indeed worked wonders.
derues had bought a large leather trunk. it is possible that to derues belongs the distinction of being the first murderer to put that harmless and necessary article of travel to a criminal use. he was engaged in his preparations for coffining mme. de lamotte, when a female creditor knocked insistently at the door. she would take no denial. clad in his bonnet and gown, derues was compelled to admit her. she saw the large trunk, and suspected a bolt on the part of her creditor. derues reassured her; a lady, he said, who had been stopping with them was returning to the country. the creditor departed. later in the day derues came out of the house and summoned some porters. with their help the heavy trunk was taken to the house of a sculptor, a friend of derues, who agreed to keep it in his studio until derues could take it down to his place in the country. bertin came in to dinner again that evening, and also the young de lamotte. derues was gayer than ever, laughing and joking with his guests. he told the boy that his mother had quite recovered and gone to versailles to see about finding him some post at the court. "we'll go and see her there in a day or two," he said, "i'll let you know when."
on the following day a smartly dressed, dapper, but very pale little gentleman, giving the name of ducoudray, hired a vacant cellar in a house in the rue de la mortellerie. he had, he said, some spanish wine he wanted to store there, and three or four days later m. ducoudray deposited in this cellar a large grey trunk. a few days after he employed a man to dig a large hole in the floor of the cellar, giving as his reason for such a proceeding that "there was no way of keeping wine like burying it." while the man worked at the job, his genial employer beguiled his labours with merry quips and tales, which he illustrated with delightful mimicry. the hole dug, the man was sent about his business. "i will bury the wine myself," said his employer, and on one or two occasions m. ducoudray was seen by persons living in the house going in and out of his cellar, a lighted candle in his hand. one day the pale little gentleman was observed leaving the cellar, accompanied by a porter carrying a large trunk, and after that the dwellers in the rue de la mortellerie saw the pale little gentleman no more.
a few days later m. derues sent down to his place at buisson-souef a large trunk filled with china. it was received there by m. de lamotte. little did the trusting gentleman guess that it was in this very trunk that the body of his dear wife had been conveyed to its last resting place in the cellar of m. ducoudray in the rue de la mortellerie. nor had m. mesvrel-desvergers, importunate creditor of m. derues, guessed the contents of the large trunk that he had met his debtor one day early in february conveying through the streets of paris. creditors were always interrupting derues at inconvenient moments. m. mesvrel-desvergers had tapped derues on the shoulder, reminded him forcibly of his liability towards him, and spoken darkly of possible imprisonment. derues pointed to the trunk. it contained, he said, a sample of wine; he was going to order some more of it, and he would then be in a position to pay his debt. but the creditor, still doubting, had m. derues followed, and ascertained that he had deposited his sample of wine at a house in the rue de la mortellerie.
on wednesday, february 12, a m. beaupre of commercy arrived at versailles with his nephew, a fat boy, in reality some fourteen years of age, but given out as older. they hired a room at the house of a cooper named pecquet. m. beaupre was a very pale little gentleman, who seemed in excellent spirits, in spite of the fact that his nephew was clearly anything but well. indeed, so sick and ailing did he appear to be that mme. pecquet suggested that his uncle should call in a doctor. but m. beaupre said that that was quite unnecessary; he had no faith in doctors; he would give the boy a good purge. his illness was due, he said, to a venereal disorder and the drugs which he had been taking in order to cure it; it was a priest the boy needed rather than a doctor. on the thursday and friday the boy's condition showed little improvement; the vomiting continued. but on saturday m. beaupre declared himself as highly delighted with the success of his medicine. the same night the boy was dead. the priest, urgently sent for by his devout uncle, arrived to find a corpse. on the following day "louis anotine beaupre, aged twenty-two and a half," was buried at versailles, his pious uncle leaving with the priest six livres to pay for masses for the repose of his erring nephew's soul.
the same evening m. derues who, according to his own account, had left paris with the young de lamotte in order to take the boy to his mother in versailles, returned home to the rue beaubourg. as usual, bertin dropped in to dinner. he found his host full of merriment, singing in the lightness of his heart. indeed, he had reason to be pleased, for at last, he told his wife and his friend, buisson-souef was his. he had seen mme. de lamotte at versailles and paid her the full purchase-money in good, sounding gold. and, best joke of all, mme. de lamotte had no sooner settled the business than she had gone off with a former lover, her son and her money, and would in all probability never be heard of again. the gay gentleman laughingly reminded his hearers that such an escapade on the part of mme. de lamotte was hardly to be wondered at, when they recollected that her son had been born out of wedlock.
to all appearances mme. de lamotte had undoubtedly concluded the sale of buisson-souef to derues and received the price of it before disappearing with her lover. derues had in his possession a deed of sale signed by mme. de lamotte and acknowledging the payment to her by derues of 100,000 livres, which he had borrowed for that purpose from an advocate of the name of duclos. as a fact the loan from duclos to derues was fictitious. a legal document proving the loan had been drawn up, but the cash which the notary had demanded to see before executing the document had been borrowed for a few hours. duclos, a provincial advocate, had acted in good faith, in having been represented to him that such fictitious transactions were frequently used in paris for the purpose of getting over some temporary financial difficulty. on the 15th of february the deed of the sale of buisson-souef had been brought by a woman to the office of a scrivener employed by derues; it was already signed, but the woman asked that certain blanks should be filled in and that the document should be dated. she was told that the date should be that of the day on which the parties had signed it. she gave it as february 12. a few days later derues called at the office and was told of the lady's visit. "ah!" he said, "it was mme. de lamotte herself, the lady who sold me the estate."
in the meantime derues, through his bustling and ubiquitous friend bertin, took good care that the story of mme. de lamotte's sale of buisson-souef and subsequent elopement should be spread sedulously abroad. by bertin it was told to m. jolly, the proctor in whose hands the de lamottes had placed the sale of buisson-souef. it was m. jolly who had in the first instance recommended to them his client derues as a possible purchaser. the proctor, who knew mme. de lamotte to be a woman devoted to her husband and her home, was astonished to hear of her infidelity, more especially as the story told by derues represented her as saying in very coarse terms how little she cared for her husband's honour. he was surprised, too, that she should not have consulted him about the conclusion of the business with derues, and that derues himself should have been able to find so considerable a sum of money as 100,000 livres. but, said m. jolly, if he were satisfied that mme. de lamotte had taken away the money with her, then he would deliver up to derues the power of attorney which m. de lamotte had left with him in 1775, giving his wife authority to carry out the sale of buisson-souef. mme. de lamotte, being a married woman, the sale of the property to derues would be legally invalid if the husband's power of attorney were not in the hands of the purchaser.
