fruitless hypocrisy, and his most abominable
deceptions were not those displayed in the light of day. He watched by
night: his singular organisation, outside the ordinary laws of nature,
appeared able to dispense with sleep. Gliding about on tiptoe, opening
doors noiselessly, with all the skill of an accomplished thief, he
pillaged shop and cellar, and sold his plunder in remote parts of the
town under assumed names. It is difficult to understand how his strength
supported the fatigue of this double existence; he had barely arrived at
puberty, and art had been obliged to assist the retarded development of
nature. But he lived only for evil, and the Spirit of Evil supplied the
physical vigour which was wanting. An insane love of money (the only
passion he knew) brought him by degrees back to his starting-point of
crime; he concealed it in hiding-places wrought in the thick walls, in
holes dug out by his nails. As soon as he got any, he brought it exactly
as a wild beast brings a piece of bleeding flesh to his lair; and often,
by the glimmer of a dark lantern, kneeling in adoration before this
shameful idol, his eyes sparkling with ferocious joy, with a smile which
suggested a hyena's delight over its prey, he would contemplate his
money, counting and kissing it.

These continual thefts brought trouble into the Legrand affairs,
cancelled all profits, and slowly brought on ruin. The widow had no
suspicion of Derues' disgraceful dealings, and he carefully referred
the damage to other causes, quite worthy of himself. Sometimes it was
a bottle of oil, or of brandy, or some other commodity, which was found
spilt, broken, or damaged, which accidents he attributed to the enormous
quantity of rats which infested the cellar and the house. At length,
unable to meet her engagements, Madame Legrand made the business over to
him in February, 1770. He was then twenty-five years and six months old,
and was accepted as a merchant grocer in August the same year. By an
agreement drawn up between them, Derues undertook to pay twelve hundred
livres for the goodwill, and to lodge her rent free during the remainder
of her lease, which had still nine years to run. Being thus obliged to
give up business to escape bankruptcy, Madame Legrand surrendered to her
creditors any goods remaining in her warehouse; and Derues easily made
arrangements to take them over very cheaply. The first step thus made,
he was now able to enrich himself safely and to