Tardy Justice

In the year of grace, 1687, Laurent Guiliemot d’Anglade lived in a fine house in the Rue Royale, at Paris, near the Bastile. He and his wife lived in a great style, kept their carriage, played high, talked incessantly of their high birth and family estate, appeared to have plenty of money—which they lent occasionally on good security—and on the strength of their own representations obtained entrance into the society of some of the best houses in Paris. For the rest, they were a worthy respectable couple, like hundreds of others; their only sin being that they gave themselves out for being richer and grander than they actually were, M. d’Anglade being a man of low birth and very moderate means. This was the beginning of all the sorrows that befell them.

M. d’Anglade and his wife occupied the greater part of the house; but, as is general in Paris, there were other inmates. A certain Count and Countess de Montgommeri occupied the ground floor and the rooms above. The ground floor consisted of three rooms, which all opened into a long corridor, at one end of which was the port-cochere of 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 Abbe Francoie Gagoard 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-a-Langer, and the one which opened from it served different purposes.

A friendly acquaintance soon sprang 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 in lous –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… Read More