"This unfortunate young man has died without the consolation of beholding
his mother.... His last thought was for her.... There now remains the
last duty, a very painful one to accomplish, but my poor nephew imposed
it on me. A few hours ago, feeling that his end was near, he asked me,
as a last mark of friendship, not to entrust these final duties to the
hands of strangers."

While he applied himself to the necessary work in presence of the cooper,
who was much affected by the sight of such sincere and profound
affliction, Derues added, sighing--

"I shall always grieve for this dear boy. Alas! that evil living should
have caused his early death!"

When he had finished laying out the body, he threw some little packets
into the fire which he professed to have found in the youth's pockets,
telling Martin, in order to support this assertion, that they contained
drugs suitable to this disgraceful malady.

He spent the night in the room with the corpse, as he had done in the
case of Madame de Lamotte, and the next day, Sunday, he sent Martin to
the parish church of St. Louis, to arrange for a funeral of the simplest
kind; telling him to fill up the certificate in the name of Beaupre, born
at Commercy, in Lorraine. He declined himself either to go to the church
or to appear at the funeral, saying that his grief was too great.
Martin, returning from the funeral, found him engaged in prayer. Derues
gave him the dead youth's clothes and departed, leaving some money to be
given to the poor of the parish, and for masses to be said for the repose
of the soul of the dead.