Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 02.pdf/390

Rh XIX. DESRÜES. [I777-J Continued. ANTOINE- FRANCOIS DESRÜES was born at Chartres in 1744. He was the son of Michel Desrües, who was an honest and respectable man. Of his early youth we have but little information beyond the fact that he was left an orphan at the age of three, and was cared for by an uncle. His life seems to have been an uneventful one until 1772, when he married Louise Nicolai, a prospective heiress of a portion of the estate of Jacques-Jean-DespeignesDuplessis, Chevalier and Lord of Caudeville. The marriage consummated, the first care of Desrües appears to have been to get possession of his wife's money; but the Despeignes estate was still in process of settle ment, and legal difficulties stood in the way of a speedy liquidation. Desrües was him self on the verge of bankruptcy, but he put his creditors off on the strength of his future prospects. To avoid the most persistent, he secretly left his lodgings in the Rue des Deux-Boules, and took modest apartments in the Rue Beaubourg, in the old Hotel de Saluees. The rooms were sufficiently large to accommodate comfortably his small family, his servant, and a friend, Bertin by name. Affairs were in this condition when, in 1774, a gentleman, Saint-Faust de la Motte, a former master of the horse in the royal household, came to Paris for the purpose of trying to effect the sale of an estate which he owned in the neighborhood of Villeneuvele-Roi-les-Sens. M. de la Motte addressed himself to M. Jolly, procureur of Parliament, an old friend who had before advised him in such matters. No purchaser having been found, M. de la Motte departed from Paris, leaving in M. Jolly's hands a power of attorney signed by

his wife, in whose name the estate, BuissonSoiief, then stood, and begging him to ef fect a sale as soon as possible. Some months afterward, early in 1775, business matters called Desrües to the pro curer's office. According to his invariable custom, Desrües spoke pompously of his magnificent prospects, of the large fortune of the Lord of Caudeville, and of his great projects for the future. M. Jolly recalled the commission which had been intrusted to him by M. de la Motte, and pictured in glowing colors to Desrües the estate of Buisson-Soiief. Desrües elicited further information, seemed inclined to the idea of purchasing it, and promised to return and talk the matter over with the procureur. M. Jolly immediately wrote to La Motte, who, upon the receipt of the letter, hastily despatched his wife to Paris. Madame de la Motte repaired at once to the procureur's house, and inquired about the purchaser whom M. Jolly thereupon invited to dine with her. Desrües came accompanied by his wife. The parties were introduced; and Desrües spoke in such enthusiastic terms of the Despeignes inheritance, and made himself so agreeable generally that Madame de la Motte was charmed. The result of the in terview was an agreement on the part of Desrües to visit at once Buisson-Souef and examine the estate. Accompanied by a notary, he made the journey a few days later, and, as the result of his inquiries and examination, offered a round sum of 130,000 livres for the prop erty. As the Despeignes estate had not yet been settled, he could not then determine upon the time he would take possession, but probably at an early day. While M. de