refused all offers from Leger to renew the lease. For some time past,
Monsieur de Serizy, wishing to rid himself of the annoyances and petty

disputes caused by the inclosure of these fields within his land, had
desired to buy the farm, having heard that Monsieur Margueron's chief

ambition was to have his only son, then a mere tax-gatherer, made
special collector of finances at Beaumont. The farmer, who knew he

could sell the fields piecemeal to the count at a high price, was
ready to pay Margueron even more than he expected from the count.

Thus matters stood when, two days earlier than that of which we write,
Monsieur de Serizy, anxious to end the matter, sent for his notary,

Alexandre Crottat, and his lawyer, Derville, to examine into all the
circumstances of the affair. Though Derville and Crottat threw some

doubt on the zeal of the count's steward (a disturbing letter from
whom had led to the consultation), Monsieur de Serizy defended Moreau,

who, he said, had served him faithfully for seventeen years.
"Very well!" said Derville, "then I advise your Excellency to go to

Presles yourself, and invite this Margueron to dinner. Crottat will
send his head-clerk with a deed of sale drawn up, leaving only the

necessary lines for description of property and titles in blank. Your
Excellency should take with you part of the purchase money in a check

on the Bank of France, not forgetting the appointment of the son to
the collectorship. If you don't settle the thing at once that farm

will slip through your fingers. You don't know, Monsieur le comte, the
trickery of these peasants. Peasants against diplomat, and the

diplomat succumbs."
Crottat agreed in this advice, which the count, if we may judge by the

valet's statements to Pierrotin, had adopted. The preceding evening he
had sent Moreau a line by the diligence to Beaumont, telling him to

invite Margueron to dinner in order that they might then and there
close the purchase of the farm of Moulineaux.

Before this matter came up, the count had already ordered the chateau
of Presles to be restored and refurnished, and for the last year,

Grindot, an architect then in fashion, was in the habit of making a
weekly visit. So, while concluding his purchase of the farm, Monsieur

de Serizy also intended to examine the work of restoration and the
effect of the new furniture. He intended all this to be a surprise to

his wife when he brought her to Presles, and with this idea in his
mind, he had put some personal pride and self-love into the work. How

came it therefore that the count, who intended in the evening to drive
to Presles openly in his own carriage, should be starting early the

next morning incognito in Pierrotin's coucou?
Here a few words on the life of the steward Moreau become

indispensable.
Moreau, steward of the state of Presles, was the son of a provincial

attorney who became during the Revolution syndic-attorney at
Versailles. In that position, Moreau the father had been the means of

almost saving both the lives and property of the Serizys, father and
son. Citizen Moreau belonged to the Danton party; Robespierre,

implacable in his hatreds, pursued him, discovered him, and finally
had him executed at Versailles. Moreau the son, heir to the doctrines

and friendships of his father, was concerned in one of the
conspiracies which assailed the First Consul on his accession to

power. At this crisis, Monsieur de Serizy, anxious to pay his debt of
gratitude, enabled Moreau, lying under sentence of death, to make his

escape; in 1804 he asked for his pardon, obtained it, offered him
first a place in his government office, and finally took him as

private secretary for his own affairs.
Some time after the marriage of his patron Moreau fell in love with

the countess's waiting-woman and married her. To avoid the annoyances
of the false position in which this marriage placed him (more than one

example of which could be seen at the imperial court), Moreau asked
the count to give him the management of the Presles estate, where his

wife could play the lady in a country region, and neither of them
would be made to suffer from wounded self-love. The count wanted a

trustworthy man at Presles, for his wife preferred Serizy, an estate
only fifteen miles from Paris. For three or four years Moreau had held

the key of the count's affairs; he was intelligent, and before the
Revolution he had studied law in his father's office; so Monsieur de

Serizy granted his request.
"You can never advance in life," he said to Moreau, "for you have

broken your neck; but you can be happy, and I will take care that you
are so."

He gave Moreau a salary of three thousand francs and his residence in
a charming lodge near the chateau, all the wood he needed from the

timber that was cut on the estate, oats, hay, and straw for two
horses, and a right to whatever he wanted of the produce of the

gardens. A sub-prefect is not as well provided for.
During the first eight years of his stewardship, Moreau managed the

estate conscientiously; he took an interest in it. The count, coming
down now and then to examine the property, pass judgment on what had

been done, and decide on new purchases, was struck with Moreau's
evident loyalty, and showed his satisfaction by liberal gifts.

But after the birth of Moreau's third child, a daughter, he felt
himself so securely settled in all his comforts at Presles that he

ceased to attribute to Monsieur de Serizy those enormous advantages.
About the year 1816, the steward, who until then had only taken what

he needed for his own use from the estate, accepted a sum of twenty-
five thousand francs from a wood-merchant as an inducement to lease to

the latter, for twelve years, the cutting of all the timber. Moreau
argued this: he could have no pension; he was the father of a family;

the count really owed him that sum as a gift after ten years'
management; already the legitimate possessor of sixty thousand francs

in savings, if he added this sum to that, he could buy a farm worth a
hundred and twenty-five thousand francs in Champagne, a township just

above Isle-Adam, on the right bank of the Oise. Political events
prevented both the count and the neighboring country-people from

becoming aware of this investment" target="_blank" title="n.投资；(时间等)投入">investment, which was made in the name of
Madame Moreau, who was understood to have inherited property from an

aunt of her father.
As soon as the steward had tasted the delightful fruit of the

possession of the property, he began, all the while maintaining toward
the world an appearance of the utmostintegrity, to lose no occasion

of increasing his fortune clandestinely; the interests of his three
children served as a poultice to the wounds of his honor.

Nevertheless, we ought in justice to say that while he accepted casks
of wine, and took care of himself in all the purchases that he made

for the count, yet according to the terms of the Code he remained an
honest man, and no proof could have been found to justify an

accusation against him. According to the jurisprudence of the least
thieving cook in Paris, he shared with the count in the profits due to

his own capablemanagement. This manner of swelling his fortune was
simply a case of conscience, that was all. Alert, and thoroughly

understanding the count's interests, Moreau watched for opportunities
to make good purchases all the more eagerly, because he gained a

larger percentage on them. Presles returned a revenue of seventy
thousand francs net. It was a saying of the country-side for a circuit

of thirty miles:--
"Monsieur de Serizy has a second self in Moreau."

Being a prudent man, Moreau invested yearly, after 1817, both his
profits and his salary on the Grand Livre, piling up his heap with the

utmostsecrecy. He often refused proposals on the plea of want of
money; and he played the poor man so successfully with the count that

the latter gave him the means to send both his sons to the school
Henri IV. At the present moment Moreau was worth one hundred and

twenty thousand francs of capital invested in the Consolidated thirds,
now paying five per cent, and quoted at eighty francs. These carefully

hidden one hundred and twenty thousand francs, and his farm at
Champagne, enlarged by subsequent purchases, amounted to a fortune of

about two hundred and eighty thousand francs, giving him an income of
some sixteen thousand.

Such was the position of the steward at the time when the Comte de
Serizy desired to purchase the farm of Moulineaux,--the ownership of