caused to his reputation.  But this time his effrontery and audacity were of little avail, the magistrate easily detected him in flagrant lies.  He declared at first that he had paid the hundred thousand livres with his own money but when reminded of his various bankruptcies, the claims of his creditors, and the judgments obtained against him as an insolvent debtor, he made a complete volte-face, and declared he had borrowed the money from an advocate named Duclos, to whom he had given a bond in presence of a notary.  In spite of all his protestations, the magistrate committed him to solitary confinement at Fort l’Eveque.

As yet, nothing was publicly known; but vague reports and gossip, carried from shop to shop, circulated among the people, and began to reach the higher classes of society.  The infallible instinct which is aroused among the masses is truly marvellous; a great crime is committed, which seems at first likely to defeat justice, and the public conscience is aroused.  Long before the tortuous folds which envelop the mystery can be penetrated, while it is still sunk in profound obscurity, the voice of the nation, like an excited hive, buzzes around the secret; though the magistrates doubt, the public curiosity fixes itself, and never leaves go; if the criminal’s hiding-place is changed, it follows the track, points it out, descries it in the gloom.  This is what happened on the news of Derues’ arrest.  The affair was everywhere discussed, although the information was incomplete, reports inexact, and no real publicity to be obtained.  The romance which Derues had invented by way of defence, and which became known as well as Monsieur de Lamotte’s accusation, obtained no credence whatever; on the contrary, all the reports to his discredit were eagerly adopted.  As yet, no crime could be traced, but the public presentiment divined an atrocious one.  Have we not often seen similar agitations?  The names of Bastide, of Castaing, of Papavoine, had hardly been pronounced before they completely absorbed all the public attention, and this had to be satisfied, light had to be thrown on the darkness:  society demanded vengeance.

Derues felt some alarm in his dungeon, but his presence of mind and his dissimulation in no wise deserted him, and he swore afresh every day to the truth of his statements.  But his last false assertion turned against him:  the bond for a hundred thousand livres which he professed to have given to Duclos was a counterfeit which Duclos had annulled by a sort of counter declaration made the same day.  Another circumstance, intended to ensure his safety, only redoubled suspicion.  On April 8th, notes payable to order to the amount of seventy-eight thousand livres, were received by Monsieur de Lamotte’s lawyer, as if coming from Madame de Lamotte.  It appeared extraordinary that these notes, which arrived in an ordinary stamped envelope, should not be accompanied by any letter of advice, and suspicion attached to