disconcerted anyone but Derues, but his audacity, activity, and resource
seemed to increase with each fresh obstacle. Leaving Edouard in a room
on the ground floor which had no communication with the rest of the inn,
he went at once to look for lodgings, and hastily explored the town.
After a fruitless search, he found at last, at the junction of the rue
Saint-Honore with that of the Orangerie, a cooper named Martin, who had a
furnished room to spare. This he hired at thirty sous per day for
himself and his nephew, who had been taken suddenly ill, under the name
of Beaupre. To avoid being questioned later, he informed the cooper in
a few words that he was a doctor; that he had come to Versailles in order
to place his nephew in one of the offices of the town; that in a few days
the latter's mother would arrive to join him in seeing and making
application to influential persons about the court, to whom he had
letters of introduction. As soon as he had delivered this fable with all
the appearance of truth with which he knew so well how to disguise his
falsehoods, he went back to the young de Lamotte, who was already so
exhausted that he was hardly able to drag himself as far as the cooper's
house. He fainted on arrival, and was carried into the hired room, where
Derues begged to be left alone with him, and only asked for certain
beverages which he told the people how to prepare.

Whether it was that the strength of youth fought against the poison, or
that Derues took pleasure in watching the sufferings of his victim, the
agony of the poor lad was prolonged until the fourth day. The sickness
continuing incessantly, he sent the cooper's wife for a medicine which he
prepared and administered himself. It produced terrible pain, and
Edouard's cries brought the cooper and his wife upstairs. They
represented to Derues that he ought to call in a doctor and consult with
him, but he refused decidedly, saying that a doctor hastily fetched might
prove to be an ignorant person with whom he could not agree, and that he