she granted. The last evening of his stay, Derues went
up to his room, broke open the box which contained his clothes, turned
over everything it contained, examined the clothes, and discovering two
new cotton nightcaps, raised a cry which brought up the household. His
brother just then returned, and Derues called him an infamous thief,
declaring that he had stolen the money for these new articles out of the
shop the evening before. His brother defended himself, protesting
his innocence, and, indignant at such incomprehensible treachery,
endeavoured to turn the tables by relating some of Antoine's early
misdeeds. The latter, however, stopped him, by declaring on his honour
that he had seen his brother the evening before go to the till, slip
his hand in, and take out some money. The brother was confounded and
silenced by so audacious a lie; he hesitated, stammered, and was turned
out of the house. Derues worthily crowned this piece of iniquity by
obliging his mistress to accept the restitution of the stolen money. It
cost him three livres, twelve sons, but the interest it brought him was
the power of stealing unsuspected. That evening he spent in prayer for
the pardon of his brother's supposed guilt.

All these schemes had succeeded, and brought him nearer to the desired
goal, for not a soul in the quarter ventured to doubt the word of this
saintly individual. His fawning manners and insinuating language
varied according to the people addressed. He adapted himself to all,
contradicting no one, and, while austere himself, he flattered
the tastes of others. In the various houses where he visited his
conversation was serious, grave, and sententious; and, as we have seen,
he could quote Scripture with the readiness of a theologian. In the
shop, when he had to deal with the lower classes, he showed himself
acquainted with their modes of expression, and spoke the Billingsgate
of the market-women, which he had acquired in the rue Comtesse d'Artois,
treating them familiarly, and they generally addressed him as "gossip
Denies." By his own account he easily judged the characters of the
various people with whom he came in contact.

However, Pere Cartault's prophecy was not fulfilled: the blessing of
Heaven did not descend on the Legrand establishment. There seemed to be
a succession of misfortunes which all Derues' zeal and care as shopman
could neither prevent nor repair. He by no means contented himself
with parading an idle and