Here a few words on the life of the steward Moreau become
indispensable.

Moreau, steward of the state of Presles, was the son of a provincial
attorney who became during the Revolution syndic-attorney at
Versailles. In that position, Moreau the father had been the means of
almost saving both the lives and property of the Serizys, father and
son. Citizen Moreau belonged to the Danton party; Robespierre,
implacable in his hatreds, pursued him, discovered him, and finally
had him executed at Versailles. Moreau the son, heir to the doctrines
and friendships of his father, was concerned in one of the
conspiracies which assailed the First Consul on his accession to
power. At this crisis, Monsieur de Serizy, anxious to pay his debt of
gratitude, enabled Moreau, lying under sentence of death, to make his
escape; in 1804 he asked for his pardon, obtained it, offered him
first a place in his government office, and finally took him as
private secretary for his own affairs.

Some time after the marriage of his patron Moreau fell in love with
the countess's waiting-woman and married her. To avoid the annoyances
of the false position in which this marriage placed him (more than one
example of which could be seen at the imperial court), Moreau asked
the count to give him the management of the Presles estate, where his
wife could play the lady in a country region, and neither of them
would be made to suffer from wounded self-love. The count wanted a
trustworthy man at Presles, for his wife preferred Serizy, an estate
only fifteen miles from Paris. For three or four years Moreau had held
the key of the count's affairs; he was intelligent, and before the
Revolution he had studied law in his father's office; so Monsieur de
Serizy granted his request.