between him and the Lamottes. It was thus that he was able to exercise
his talent of forgery, and succeeded in imitating the writing of this
unfortunate lady so as to be able even to deceive her husband. Several
months passed, and none of the hopes which Derues had inspired were
realised; a loan was always on the point of being arranged, and regularly
failed because of some unforeseen circumstance. These pretended
negotiations were managed by Derues with so much skill and cunning that
instead of being suspected, he was pitied for having so much useless
trouble. Meanwhile, Monsieur de Lamotte's money difficulties increased,
and the sale of Buisson-Souef became inevitable. Derues offered himself
as a purchaser, and actually acquired the property by private contract,
dated December, 1775. It was agreed between the parties that the
purchase-money of one hundred and thirty thousand livres should not be
paid until 1776, in order to allow Derues to collect the various sums at
his disposal. It was an important purchase, which, he said, he only made
on account of his interest in Monsieur de Lamotte, and his wish to put an
end to the latter's difficulties.

But when the period agreed on arrived, towards the middle of 1776, Derues
found it impossible to pay. It is certain that he never meant to do so;
and a special peculiarity of this dismal story is the avarice of the man,
the passion for money which overruled all his actions, and occasionally
caused him to neglect necessary prudence. Enriched by three bankruptcies,
by continual thefts, by usury, the gold he acquired promptly seemed to
disappear. He stuck at nothing to obtain it, and once in his grasp, he
never let it go again. Frequently he risked the loss of his character for
honest dealing rather than relinquish a fraction of his wealth.
According to many credible people, it was generally believed by his
contemporaries that this monster possessed treasures which he had buried
in the ground, the hiding-place of which no one knew, not even his wife.