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In this confused murmuring some fragments of phrases would occasionally strike the ear: "Chateau of Vivey deceased the eighth of October last at the requisition of Marie- Julien de Buxieres, comptroller of direct contributions at Nancy styling himself heir to Claude Odouart de Buxieres, his cousin-german by blood " This last phrase elicited from Claudet a sudden movement of surprise.
Julien had never placed any reliance on this chimerical inheritance, and he received almost with indifference the official announcement of the death of Claude Odouart de Buxieres.
With the compression of lip and significant shake of the head of a physician about to take in hand a hopeless case of illness, the justice made known to his two neighbors the text of the sheet of paper, on which Claude Odouart de Buxieres had written, in his coarse, ill-regulated hand, the following lines: "Not knowing my collateral heirs, and caring nothing about them, I give and bequeath all my goods and chattels "
There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed bands across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were promptly ransacked by the justice and his assistant. Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe.
The older one had married also, one of the Rochetaillee family; he had had but one son, Claude Odouart de Buxieres, whose recent decease had brought about the visit of the Justice of Auberive and his clerk. Claude de Buxieres had lived all his life at Vivey.
There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a plaintive sigh from Manette Sejournant and afterward by the tearing sound of the sealed bands across the bureau, the drawers and pigeonholes of which were promptly ransacked by the justice and his assistant. Odouart de Buxieres had not been much of a scribe.
"What do you mean?" she exclaimed, "was it not agreed with Monsieur de Buxieres that you should inherit all his property?" "Such was his intention, but he did not have time to put it in execution; he died without leaving any will, and, as I am nothing in the eye of the law, the patrimony will go to a distant relative, a de Buxieres whom Monsieur Odouart did not even know."
"Oh, yes; five or six years ago; I used often to take parties of hunters to the chateau. Ah! Monsieur, what a beautiful country it is for hunting; you can not take twenty steps along a trench without seeing a stag or a deer." "You have doubtless had the opportunity of meeting Monsieur Odouart de Buxieres?" "Yes, indeed, Monsieur, more than once-ah! he is a jolly fellow and a fine man "
Now, as the deceased was at heart a rustic, I fear greatly that he did not carry his intentions into execution." "That would be a pity for the chateau, the lands, and the entire fortune would go to an heir of whom Monsieur Odouart never had taken account to one of the younger branch of Buxieres, whom he had never seen, having quarrelled with the family." "A cousin, I believe," said the justice.
"Possibly, but if the law were to keep count of all such cases, there would be no end to their labors; especially in all questions of the 'cujus'. Odouart de Buxieres was a terribly wild fellow, and they say that these old beech-trees of Vivey forest could tell many a tale of his exploits." "He, he!" assented the clerk, laughing slyly, and showing his toothless gums, "there is some truth in that.
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