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Updated: May 5, 2025
"Oh, the villain!" was Monsieur des Vanneaulx's usual conclusion. One of Madame Graslin's female friends related to her with much amusement these discussions of the des Vanneaulx.
The two priests attributed this abstraction to the fact of being bored, whereas, on the contrary, the prelate was absorbed in seeing in the sands of the Vienne the solution of the enigma then so anxiously sought for by the officers of justice, the des Vanneaulx, and the community at large.
After the neighbors had missed seeing the little old Pingret and his maid for a whole morning and had gazed at his house through the wooden railings as they passed it, and seen that, contrary to custom, the doors and windows were still closed, an excitement began in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne which presently reached the rue de la Cloche, where Madame des Vanneaulx resided.
More than once a discussion on the subject had cut into the whist-playing of Limoges. A few shrewd heads declared that the old miser buried his gold in that clover-field. "If I were Madame des Vanneaulx," said a wit, "I shouldn't torment my uncle about it; if somebody murders him, why, let him be murdered! I should inherit the money."
"If we do not condemn this man to death, but allow him to live, the des Vanneaulx will in the end recover their property." This weighty argument made a division of the jury, into five for condemnation against seven for acquittal, which necessitated an appeal to the court; but the judge sided with the minority. According to the legal system of that day this action led to a verdict of guilty.
The population at Limoges was much concerned for these worthy des Vanneaulx, who had two children; and yet, no sooner did the law lay hands upon the reputed doer of the crime than the guilty personage absorbed attention, became a hero, and the des Vanneaulx were relegated into a corner of the picture.
The magistrates admitted the correctness of their calculations and entered the sum stolen on their records as, in all probability, a thousand gold coins to each pot. But were these coins forty-eight or forty, twenty-four or twenty francs in value? All expectant heirs in Limoges sympathized with the des Vanneaulx. The Limousin imagination was greatly stirred by the spectacle of the broken pots.
To think that people in good society actually take an interest in such a wretch!" "He has no honor," said Madame des Vanneaulx. "But perhaps the restitution would compromise the woman he loves," said an old maid. "We would keep his secret," returned Monsieur des Vanneaulx. "Then you would be compounding a felony," remarked a lawyer.
The des Vanneaulx had contributed, with melancholy hope, toward the comfort of the man from whom they still expected to recover their inheritance. Thus poor Jean-Francois had a last glimpse of family joys, if joys they could be called under such circumstances. "Is my appeal rejected?" he said to Monsieur Bonnet. "Yes, my child; nothing is left for you to do but to make a Christian end.
As for the hundred thousand francs stolen from Monsieur and Madame des Vanneaulx no efforts of the police could find them; and the obstinate silence of the criminal gave no clue.
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