the court-yard, and at the other a staircase
leading to the rooms upon the first-floor,
where there was a small inner closet or strong-
room. Here the count and countess kept
their money and jewels. The Abbé Francois
Gagnard, the count's almoner, a page, and a
valet-de-chambre, slept in one of the three
rooms on the ground-floor. Another was the
salle-à-manger, and the one which opened
from it served for different purposes.

A friendly acquaintance soon sprung up
between the d'Anglades and the Montgommeries.
Soon after he entered the house, the
Count de Montgommeri received a large
sum of money, partly louis-d'ors, some of
which were quite new and others au cordon,
or old ones. The remainder of the money
was in thirteen bags, each bag containing a
thousand francs; also there was a bag
containing eleven thousand five hundred livres
in Spanish pistoles. All this money, together
with a magnificent pearl necklace
estimated to be worth four thousand livres,
was secured in a strong coffer, and the
coffer was carefully placed in the small inner
closet we have mentioned. The d'Anglades
knew all this, and had recommended an
investment for his money to the count. One
day M. de Montgommeri and his wife agreed
to go and spend a few days at their country
house of Ville Vousin near Mont l'Hère, and
invited their neighbours, the d'Anglades, to
accompany them. They accepted the invitation;
but subsequently made some frivolous
excuse for remaining at home. The count
and countess set off on Monday the twenty-
second of September sixteen hundred and
eighty-seven, and gave out that they should
return the following Thursday. The almoner,
I'Abbé Gagnard, and all the servants
accompanied them, except a femrne-de-chambre,
named Forménie, and one lacquey. Four
sewing women, employed to embroider some
hangings for Madame de Montgommeri, were
also left in the house; but they were lodged
in another part of the building. The key of
the outer door of the room on the first-floor
was confided to the femme-de-chambre; the
Abbé Gagnard shut and double-locked the
door of his room on the ground-floor; and
the family departed, considering that they
had left everything secure. This was showing
a contempt for burglars that, under the
circumstances, amounted to rashness; and
they seem to have thought so, for, they
returned home suddenly, twenty-four hours
earlier than they had intended. The count
declared that his mind was troubled by the
sight of some drops of blood which he found
upon a table-cloth, and that he determined
to quit Ville Vousin that moment, having a
presentiment that something had happened.
The abbé and the servants did not arrive
until after him.

The first thing that struck the abbé was,
finding his room-door ajar, although, during
the absence of the count and countess, it had
seemed to be closed; the abbé having double-
locked it with his own hands, and the key
had never been out of his possession. All the
servants remarked the fact also, but at the
moment it did not, singular to state, make
much impression, on them. Supper was
served to the count and countess in the salle-
à-manger, and they were still at table when
their neighbour, d'Anglade, came home, at
eleven o'clock, accompanied by the Abbés de
Fleury and de Villais, who had supped with,
him at the house of la Présidente Robert.
Finding the count and countess were returned,
they all went in, and presently Madame
d'Anglade joined them. After a lively conversation
they all separated for the night, and
everything seemed as usual.

The next morning, the Count de
Montgommeri discovered that he had been robbed.
The lock of his strong box had been forced,
and everything it contained had been carried
away.

He of course made a complaint to the
lieuteuant-criminel of the châtelet; who, with,
the procureur du roi and the commissary of
police, lost no time in repairing to the spot.
On. examination they declared the robbery to
have been committed by some one upon the
premises, and decided upon searching the
whole house. D'Anglade and his wife
requested that their own apartments should be
the first examined. Strict scrutiny was made,
but nothing could be discovered in the rooms
they inhabited. The officers proceeded to
the attics. Madame d'Anglade excused
herself from accompanying them upon the plea
of sudden faintness. Up to the attics the
officers went; and, concealed in an old
chest, under wearing apparel and house-
linen, they found a rouleau of sixty louis
au cordon, wrapped in a printed paper,
which the Count de Montgommeri declared
was his genealogy. He also said that part of
the money stolen from him consisted of louis
au cordon of the years sixteen hundred and
eighty-six and sixteen hundred and eighty-
seven.

When d'Anglade was questioned about
this money, he stammered and could give no
account of how he came by it. He seemed in
despair, and Madame d'Anglade said that
the door of the apartment of the Abbé
Gagnard had not been secured as it ought to
have been, and she insisted that it should be
likewise searched. This was done, it was
found that money had been abstracted from
five bags, each, containing a thousand livres.
As the Abbé Gagnard had double-locked
the door before his departure and never
parted with the key out of his possession,
this incident confirmed the suspicion that
had settled upon d'Anglade and his wife.
The lieutenant-criminel went so far as to
say to d'Anglade,—

"Either you or I must have committed the
robbery."

So convinced was he that he had secured