by Daniel Defoe
clothes bloody, and all within the space of one minute, orindeed of a very few moments.
These things amazed me, and I was a good while as one stupid. However,after some time I began to recover, and look into my affairs. I had thesatisfaction not to be left in distress, or in danger of poverty. On thecontrary, besides what he had put into my hands fairly in his lifetime,which amounted to a very considerable value, I found above seven hundredpistoles in gold in his scrutoire, of which he had given me the key; andI found foreign bills accepted for about twelve thousand livres; sothat, in a word, I found myself possessed of almost ten thousand poundssterling in a very few days after the disaster.
The first thing I did upon this occasion was to send a letter to mymaid, as I still called her, Amy, wherein I gave her an account of mydisaster, how my husband, as she called him (for I never called him so),was murdered; and as I did not know how his relations, or his wife'sfriends might act upon that occasion, I ordered her to convey away allthe plate, linen, and other things of value, and to secure them in aperson's hands that I directed her to, and then to sell or dispose ofthe furniture of the house, if she could, and so, without acquaintinganybody with the reason of her going, withdraw; sending notice to hishead manager at London that the house was quitted by the tenant, andthey might come and take possession of it for the executors. Amy was sodexterous, and did her work so nimbly, that she gutted the house, andsent the key to the said manager, almost as soon as he had notice of themisfortune that befell their master.
Upon their receiving the surprising news of his death, the head managercame over to Paris, and came to the house. I made no scruple of callingmyself Madame ----, the widow of Monsieur ----, the English jeweller.And as I spoke French naturally, I did not let him know but that I washis wife, married in France, and that I had not heard that he had anywife in England, but pretended to be surprised, and exclaim against himfor so base an action; and that I had good friends in Poictou, where Iwas born, who would take care to have justice done me in England out ofhis estate.
I should have observed that, as soon as the news was public of a manbeing murdered, and that he was a jeweller, fame did me the favour as topublish presently that he was robbed of his casket of jewels, which healways carried about him. I confirmed this, among my daily lamentationsfor his disaster, and added that he had with him a fine diamond ring,which he was known to wear frequently about him, valued at one hundredpistoles, a gold watch, and a great quantity of diamonds of inestimablevalue in his casket, which jewels he was carrying to the Prince of----, to show some of them to him; and the prince owned that he hadspoken to him to bring some such jewels, to let him see them. But Isorely repented this part afterward, as you shall hear.
This rumour put an end to all inquiry after his jewels, his ring, or hiswatch; and as for the seven hundred pistoles, that I secured. For thebills which were in hand, I owned I had them, but that, as I said Ibrought my husband thirty thousand livres portion, I claimed the saidbills, which came to not above twelve thousand livres, for my _amende_;and this, with the plate and the household stuff, was the principal ofall his estate which they could come at. As to the foreign bill which hewas going to Versailles to get accepted, it was really lost with him;but his manager, who had remitted the bill to him, by way of Amsterdam,bringing over the second bill, the money was saved, as they call it,which would otherwise have been also gone; the thieves who robbed andmurdered him were, to be sure, afraid to send anybody to get the billaccepted, for that would undoubtedly have discovered them.
By this time my maid Amy was arrived, and she gave me an account of hermanagement, and how she had secured everything, and that she had quittedthe house, and sent the key to the head manager of his business, andlet me know how much she had made of everything very punctually andhonestly.
I should have observed, in the account of his dwelling with me so longat ----, that he never passed for anything there but a lodger in thehouse; and though he was landlord, that did not alter the case. So thatat his death, Amy coming to quit the house and give them the key, therewas no affinity between that and the case of their master who was newlykilled.
I got good advice at Paris from an eminent lawyer, a counsellor of theParliament there, and laying my case before him, he directed me to makea process in dower upon the estate, for making good my new fortune uponmatrimony, which accordingly I did; and, upon the whole, the managerwent back to England well satisfied that he had gotten the unacceptedbill of exchange, which was for two thousand five hundred pounds, withsome other things, which together amounted to seventeen thousand livres;and thus I got rid of him.
I was visited with great civility on this sad occasion of the loss of myhusband, as they thought him, by a great many ladies of quality. And thePrince of ----, to whom it was reported he was carrying the jewels, senthis gentleman with a very handsome compliment of condolence to me; andhis gentleman, whether with or without order, hinted as if his Highnessdid intend to have visited me himself, but that some accident, which hemade a long story of, had prevented him.
By the concourse of ladies and others that thus came to visit me, Ibegan to be much known; and as I did not forget to set myself out withall possible advantage, considering the dress of a widow, which in thosedays was a most frightful thing; I say, as I did thus from my ownvanity, for I was not ignorant that I was very handsome; I say, on thisaccount I was soon made very public, and was known by the name of _Labelle veufeu de Poictou_, or the pretty widow of Poictou. As I was verywell pleased to see myself thus handsomely used in my affliction, itsoon dried up all my tears; and though I appeared as a widow, yet, as wesay in England, it was of a widow comforted. I took care to let theladies see that I knew how to receive them; that I was not at a loss howto behave to any of them; and, in short, I began to be very popularthere. But I had an occasion afterwards which made me decline that kindof management, as you shall hear presently.
About four days after I had received the compliments of condolence fromthe Prince ----, the same gentleman he had sent before came to tell methat his Highness was coming to give me a visit. I was indeed surprisedat that, and perfectly at a loss how to behave. However, as there wasno remedy, I prepared to receive him as well as I could. It was not manyminutes after but he was at the door, and came in, introduced by his owngentleman, as above, and after by my woman Amy.
He treated me with abundance of civility, and condoled handsomely on theloss of my husband, and likewise the manner of it. He told me heunderstood he was coming to Versailles to himself, to show him somejewels; that it was true that he had discoursed with him about jewels,but could not imagine how any villains should hear of his coming at thattime with them; that he had not ordered him to attend with them atVersailles, but told him that he would come to Paris by such a day, sothat he was no way accessory to the disaster. I told him gravely I knewvery well that all his Highness had said of that part was true; thatthese villains knew his profession, and knew, no doubt, that he alwayscarried a casket of jewels about him, and that he always wore a diamondring on his finger worth a hundred pistoles, which report had magnifiedto five hundred; and that, if he had been going to any other place, itwould have been the same thing. After this his Highness rose up to go,and told me he had resolved, however, to make me some reparation; andwith these words put a silk purse into my hand with a hundred pistoles,and told me he would make me a farther compliment of a small pension,which his gentleman would inform me of.
You may be sure I behaved with a due sense of so much goodness, andoffered to kneel to kiss his hand; but he took me up and saluted me, andsat down again (though before he made as if he was going away), makingme sit down by him.
He then began to talk with me more familiarly; told me he hoped I wasnot left in bad circumstances; that Mr. ---- was reputed to be very rich,and that he had gained lately great sums by some jewels, and he hoped,he said, that I had still a fortune agreeable to the condition I hadlived in before.
I replied, with some tears, which, I confess, were a little
forced, thatI believed, if Mr. ---- had lived, we should have been out of danger ofwant, but that it was impossible to estimate the loss which I hadsustained, besides that of the life of my husband; that, by the opinionof those that knew something of his affairs, and of what value thejewels were which he intended to have shown to his Highness, he couldnot have less about him than the value of a hundred thousand livres;that it was a fatal blow to me, and to his whole family, especially thatthey should be lost in such a manner.
His Highness returned, with an air of concern, that he was very sorryfor it; but he hoped, if I settled in Paris, I might find ways torestore my fortune; at the same time he complimented me upon my beingvery handsome, as he was pleased to call it, and that I could not failof admirers. I stood up and humbly thanked his Highness, but told him Ihad no expectations of that kind; that I thought I should be obliged togo over to England, to look after my husband's effects there, which, Iwas told, were considerable, but that I did
