Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/170

 164 The young man had not possessed himself of my whole secret by his underhand proceeding. The workman made the Calimanco for him as he had done for me, but he knew nothing of the mode by which I got rid of the long hairs that had perplexed me at the outset. When several pieces had been made and pressed, they proved utterly unsaleable, from the hairs upon them: so I stepped forward and made an offer of fifteen pence a yard, which was gladly accepted. I burnt off the hairs, and then resold them at two shillings and sixpence a yard. The treacherous weaver was now thrown completely out of employment. He dared not show himself to me, and as he could not produce a profitable article for the man who had tempted him to betray my secret, he would not employ him any more, for he was not disposed to make stuff merely to sell it in an unfinished state to me. The wretched workman went off one morning with whatever he could lay hands on belonging to his late employer, and among other things, a handsome overcoat with very large silver gilt buttons upon it. He went to London, and I have heard he became a regular thief, and was eventually hanged.

The attempt to supplant me had proved so unfortunate to both master and workman, that a long time was allowed to elapse before any further effort of that kind was made. From the end of the year 1690 until the year 1693, I worked in peace, and retained for my own benefit the profit of my invention. During this interval the demand for serge gradually decreased, and trade became so bad that actual want seemed to sharpen the faculties of the serge manufacturers, and they determined to do their best to imitate my Calimanco. My secret was at length discovered by some pieces having inadvertently been sent to be pressed without having been