n placing him in some school where
his hitherto neglected education might receive more attention. Derues
undertook to find a capable tutor, in whose house the boy would be
brought up in the religious feeling which the cure of Buisson and his
own exhortations had already tended to develop. These proceedings, added
to Madame de Lamotte's endeavours to collect various sums due to her
husband, took some time. Perhaps, when on the point of executing a
terrible crime, Derues tried to postpone the fatal moment, although,
considering his character, this seems unlikely, for one cannot do him
the honour of crediting him with a single moment of remorse, doubt,
or pity. Far from it, it appears from all the information which can
be gathered, that Derues, faithful to his own traditions, was simply
experimenting on his unfortunate guests, for no sooner were they in his
house than both began to complain of constant nausea, which they had
never suffered from before. While he thus ascertained the strength of
their constitution, he was able, knowing the cause of the malady, to
give them relief, so that Madame de Lamotte, although she grew daily
weaker, had so much confidence in him as to think it unnecessary to
call in a doctor. Fearing to alarm her husband, she never mentioned her
sufferings, and her letters only spoke of the care and kind attention
which she received.

On the 15th of January, 1777, Edouard was placed in a school in the rue
de l'Homme Arme. His mother never saw him again. She went out once more
to place her husband's power of attorney with a lawyer in the rue
de Paon. On her return she felt so weak and broken-down that she was
obliged to go to bed and remain there for several days. On January 29th
the unfortunate lady had risen, and was sitting near the window which
overlooked the deserted rue des Menetriers, where clouds of snow were
drifting before the wind. Who can guess the sad thoughts which may have
possessed her?--all around dark, cold, and silent, tending to produce
painful depression and involuntary dread. To escape the gloomy ideas
which besieged her, her mind went back to the smiling times of her youth
and marriage. She recalled the time when, alone at Buisson during her
husband's enforced absences, she wandered with her child in the cool and
shaded walks of the park, and sat out in the evening, inhaling the scent
of the flowers, and listening to the murmur of the water, or the sound
of the whispering breeze i