ne prefers to believe that these atrocious plots were not
invented so long beforehand. But he was already a prey to the idea,
and nothing henceforth could turn him from it. By what route he should
arrive at the distant goal which his greed foresaw, he knew not as yet,
but he had said to himself, "One day this property shall be mine." It
was the death-warrant of those who owned it.

We have no details, no information as to Derues' first visit to
Buisson-Souef, but when he departed he had obtained the complete
confidence of the family, and a regular correspondence was carried on
between him and the Lamottes. It was thus that he was able to exercise
his talent of forgery, and succeeded in imitating the writing of this
unfortunate lady so as to be able even to deceive her husband. Several
months passed, and none of the hopes which Derues had inspired were
realised; a loan was always on the point of being arranged, and
regularly failed because of some unforeseen circumstance. These
pretended negotiations were managed by Derues with so much skill and
cunning that instead of being suspected, he was pitied for having
so much useless trouble. Meanwhile, Monsieur de Lamotte's money
difficulties increased, and the sale of Buisson-Souef became inevitable.
Derues offered himself as a purchaser, and actually acquired the
property by private contract, dated December, 1775. It was agreed
between the parties that the purchase-money of one hundred and thirty
thousand livres should not be paid until 1776, in order to allow
Derues to collect the various sums at his disposal. It was an important
purchase, which, he said, he only made on account of his interest
in Monsieur de Lamotte, and his wish to put an end to the latter's
difficulties.

But when the period agreed on arrived, towards the middle of 1776,
Derues found it impossible to pay. It is certain that he never meant to
do so; and a special peculiarity of this dismal story is the avarice
of the man, the passion for money which overruled all his actions, and
occasionally caused him to neglect necessary prudence. Enriched by
three bankruptcies, by continual thefts, by usury, the gold he acquired
promptly seemed to disappear. He stuck at nothing to obtain it, and once
in his grasp, he never let it go again. Frequently he risked the loss
of his character for honest dealing rather than relinquish a fraction of
his wealth. According to many credible people, it was generally believed
by h