Gramont and Vadier became amazingly friendly. In the course of time Gramont stated that he was connected by ties of blood with the ci-devant Duke de Coulancourt, that he aimed at getting into his hands the estates confiscated; and that if Vadier, who was a most accomplished forger, would aid him, he would make it well worth his while, and enrich him; for Vadier’s extravagance equalled his love of blood. Struck with this proposal Vadier recollected the papers he had secreted in Toulon, and for them he went. Between them they forged several letters and a deed, purporting to annul the will the duke made, leaving his property to his duchess. In such a time of anarchy, confusion, and horror, they contrived to gain their ends, and the confiscated property of the Coulancourts was bestowed upon Monsieur Gramont; but the overthrow of Robespierre and his execution, and the destruction of all his partisans that could be caught, some time after, put Monsieur Gramont and Augustine Vadier to flight. Vadier was so execrated that he dared not shew himself any where near Paris; he contrived to get into Brittany, and joined the brigands, as they were then styled. A party he belonged to were forced to fly into Normandy; there he heard of Monsieur Gramont’s son being still in possession of his father’s property near Coulancourt; and as the son was well known to him, and knew of the manner in which he served his father, he discovered himself to him, and he gave him an asylum in his château. The pursuit after the partisans of Robespierre having relaxed, many had returned to Paris to foment fresh disturbances if they could; but Augustine Vadier, though he kept up a correspondence with several persons in the capital, was yet afraid to show himself.
Bertrand Gramont had just retired from the army, and through the interest of a near connection, then in power with the party governing France, was made maire of the arrondissement in which Coulancourt was situated. He was immensely in debt, his only remaining estate being mortgaged to the last acre, and, in fact, he was living on the emoluments of his office. Totally unprincipled, caring not a straw about the political state of the country, or minding much whether France became a republic or flourished under a monarchical government, though indeed he inclined to the latter, his only object was self-aggrandizement, and his grand project to recover Coulancourt. Augustine Vadier had irrevocably lost the papers he once possessed, for in his flight from Paris he lost everything. Bertrand Gramont kept up a strict espionage upon Madame Coulancourt, his aim being to excite suspicion of her conduct, so that her estate of Coulancourt might be confiscated, he being assured that if that event ever occurred he should be able to get reinstated in the property.
With Augustine Vadier he planned the robbery of Jean Plessis, thinking to gain possession of important papers relative to the estate, and also some evidence of the intendant’s proceedings respecting other property belonging to Madame Coulancourt.
Vadier brought into Normandy some eight or ten of his old associates, and kept them concealed till an opportunity should occur. Their vile projects were, however, defeated by the timely appearance of Lieutenant Thornton and Bill Saunders. Bertram Gramont was watching the whole proceeding, bitterly cursing the interference of our hero. In conversing with him afterwards respecting the fishing-rod he had picked up, his suspicions were excited by something in the manner and appearance of Lieutenant Thornton. He found no fault exactly with his French, for he spoke the language exceedingly well; but to a very keen observer like Bertram Gramont a trifle will lead to suspicion.
Suspicion once aroused, caused reflection, and not knowing any one in the vicinity of the name of De Tourville, he began making inquiries before he paid his promised visit to Coulancourt.
Vadier, who, at the time of the attack upon Jean Plessis, was without beard or whiskers, lay hid in Monsieur Gramont’s château, till they grew, and he otherwise disguised himself. He declared to Bertram Gramont that the man who nearly choked him with the landing-net was positively an Englishman, for he had spoken English to him. He was sure it was English.
Monsieur Gramont thought this was very curious, so he rode over to Havre, and there he heard the full particulars of the attempt upon the Vengeance, and of her seizure afterwards by an English officer of the Diamond frigate and one man, and their taking her to sea; of her being burned, and then run ashore near or under Lyon Point; but what became of the English officer and his man, no one could say. Strongly desirous of finding some clue to the mystery, Bertram Gramont rode to the place where Captain Gaudet was repairing and refitting the Vengeance. He saw Pierre Gaudet, and questioned him concerning the naval officer and his man that took the privateer.
Captain Gaudet readily enough told him all he knew: that it was the same officer who had shot his brother-in-law, and took the Bon-Citoyen schooner; but he could not say what became of him and his companion. He said, very likely that they were drowned; but Monsieur Gramont thought that it was not probable. He made the captain describe the two men minutely, and from his description he felt almost satisfied that Monsieur de Tourville and his servant, Pierre Bompart, were the English officer and his man. He at once set François Perrin, Sergeant of the Inspecting Gendarmes, to make all kind of inquiries, cautiously, so as not to excite suspicion. So well did the sergeant manage it, that he found out that two tall men, dressed as sailors, supposed to be French sailors, had crossed the sands to the village of Caux, on the morning after the burning wreck came ashore, and had been observed to enter the village, but were not seen after. More the sergeant could not learn; however, that was enough for Bertram Gramont. Giving the sergeant a handsome present, he desired him to remain quiet for awhile.
Bertram Gramont now felt satisfied he knew who Monsieur de Tourville was; but that by no means cleared up all the mystery of the affair to him. He was convinced there was a great deal more to be found out. He did not care about the arrest of the Englishmen; the finding them domiciled in Coulancourt, under the names of De Tourville and Bompart, was mysterious; but ten times more so when a Mademoiselle de Tourville arrived. He set a careful spy upon the movements of the inhabitants of Coulancourt; and as a guide, he ordered Sergeant Perrin to pay a visit to Dame Moret’s, and also to the château; to excite no suspicion, but merely to perform his actual duty, inquiring the names, looking at their papers, &c., and then to come to him.
The spy brought him word that a party was going to the Hermit’s Grotto on the following day; so, with Vadier, now much transmogrified by beard and whiskers and false eyebrows, he rode to the place, left Vadier with the horses, and crossed the rocks.