"You can never advance in life," he said to Moreau, "for you have
broken your neck; but you can be happy, and I will take care that you
are so."

He gave Moreau a salary of three thousand francs and his residence in
a charming lodge near the chateau, all the wood he needed from the
timber that was cut on the estate, oats, hay, and straw for two
horses, and a right to whatever he wanted of the produce of the
gardens. A sub-prefect is not as well provided for.

During the first eight years of his stewardship, Moreau managed the
estate conscientiously; he took an interest in it. The count, coming
down now and then to examine the property, pass judgment on what had
been done, and decide on new purchases, was struck with Moreau's
evident loyalty, and showed his satisfaction by liberal gifts.

But after the birth of Moreau's third child, a daughter, he felt
himself so securely settled in all his comforts at Presles that he
ceased to attribute to Monsieur de Serizy those enormous advantages.
About the year 1816, the steward, who until then had only taken what
he needed for his own use from the estate, accepted a sum of
twenty-five thousand francs from a wood-merchant as an inducement to
lease to the latter, for twelve years, the cutting of all the timber.
Moreau argued this: he could have no pension; he was the father of a
family; the count really owed him that sum as a gift after ten years'
management; already the legitimate possessor of sixty thousand francs
in savings, if he added this sum to that, he could buy a farm worth a
hundred and twenty-five thousand francs in Champagne, a township just
above Isle-Adam, on the right bank of the Oise. Political events