whom Loupian had been chattering, did his duty as a vigilant officer. He made out of the landlord's gossip a report in his best official style, and forwarded it to the higher powers. The fatal letter was taken to the Duke of Rovigo; it agreed with the information received respecting the movements in La Vendée. Beyond doubt, Picaud was the connecting link between the South and the West. He must be some important person; his professed trade disguised a gentleman of Languedoc. In short, in the night between Sunday and Monday, the unfortunate Picaud was taken from his room so mysteriously that no one saw him go. After that day, all trace of him was lost completely; his relatives and his friends could not obtain the slightest information of what had befallen him, and he was forgotten.
Time passed. The year 1814 arrived; the Empire fell, and about the 15th day of April, a man, bent by suffering, and aged by despair more than by time, came out of the citadel of Fenestrelles. In seven years he had lived half a century. No one could recognize him; he could not recognize himself when for the first time he looked into a mirror in the wretched tavern of Fenestrelles.
This man, whose prison name had been Joseph Lucher, had been in the service of a rich ecclesiastic of Milan, who regarded him more as a son than a domestic. The priest, indignant at his relatives, who had abandoned him in order to enjoy the income of his large fortune, concealed from them the funds he had deposited in the bank of Hamburg and in the bank of England. He had, furthermore, sold the greater part of his domains to one of the high dignitaries of the Kingdom of Italy, and the interest on these funds was payable annually at a bank in Amsterdam, which had orders to transmit the amount to the vendor.
This Italian noble, who died January 4th, 1814, left as sole heir to about seven millions of unencumbered property, the poor prisoner, Joseph Lucher, and had, too, confided to him the secret of a hidden treasure of about twelve hundred thousand francs' worth of diamonds, and three millions of coined moneys, Milanese ducats, Venetian florins, Spanish double doubloons, French Louis-d'or, and English sovereigns.
Joseph Lucher, when finally discharged, went with all speed to Turin, and thence to Milan. He acted cautiously, and at the end of a few days was in possession of the treasure which he had gone to look for, and also of a multitude of antique gems and cameos of great value. From Milan, Joseph Lucher proceeded to Hamburg, Amsterdam, and London, and collected riches enough to fill a king's treasure-house. Lucher, who had teamed from his master the secret of speculating with success, placed his funds so advantageously that, after reserving the diamonds and a million of francs in his pocket-book, he had a revenue
