of
Buisson-Souef and subsequent elopement should be spread sedulously
abroad. By Bertin it was told to M. Jolly, the proctor in whose hands
the de Lamottes had placed the sale of Buisson-Souef. It was M. Jolly
who had in the first instance recommended to them his client Derues as a
possible purchaser. The proctor, who knew Mme. de Lamotte to be a woman
devoted to her husband and her home, was astonished to hear of her
infidelity, more especially as the story told by Derues represented her
as saying in very coarse terms how little she cared for her husband's
honour. He was surprised, too, that she should not have consulted
him about the conclusion of the business with Derues, and that Derues
himself should have been able to find so considerable a sum of money as
100,000 livres. But, said M. Jolly, if he were satisfied that Mme. de
Lamotte had taken away the money with her, then he would deliver up to
Derues the power of attorney which M. de Lamotte had left with him in
1775, giving his wife authority to carry out the sale of Buisson-Souef.
Mme. de Lamotte, being a married woman, the sale of the property to
Derues would be legally invalid if the husband's power of attorney were
not in the hands of the purchaser.

II

THE GAME OF BLUFF

To Derues, on the eve of victory, the statement of Jolly in regard to
the power of attorney was a serious reverse. He had never thought of
such an instrument, or he would have persuaded Mme. de Lamotte to have
gotten permission of it before her disappearance. Now he must try to get
it from Jolly himself. On the 26th of February he once again raised from
a friendly notary a few thousand livres on the Duplessis inheritance,
and deposited the deed of sale of Buisson-Souef as further security.
His pocket full of gold, he went straight to the office of Jolly. To the
surprise of the proctor Derues announced that he had come to pay him 200
livres which he owed him, and apologised for the delay. Taking the
gold coins from his pockets he filled his three-cornered hat with
considerably more than the sum due, and held it out invitingly to
M. Jolly. Then he proceeded to tell him of his dealings with Mme. de
Lamotte. She had offered, he said, to get the power of attorney for him,
but he, trusting in her good faith, had said that there was no occasion
for hurry; and then, faithless, ungrateful woman that she was, she had
gone off with his money and left him in the lurch. "But," he added, "I
tr