Now when a man of this class dies what
happens? The servants and people around him profit of his
loneliness and isolation, and the justice of the peace is only
summoned to affix the seals, after they have removed all the
portable property. An inventory is taken, and after a few
formalities, as no heirs present themselves, the court declares
the inheritance to be in abeyance, and appoints a trustee.
This trustee's duties are very simple. He manages the property
and remits the income to the Treasury until a legal judgment
declares the estate the property of the country, regardless of any
heirs who may present themselves in future.
"If I only had a twentieth part of the money that is lost in this
way, my fortune would be made," exclaimed a shrewd man, some
thirty years ago.
The person who spoke was Antoine Vaudore. For six months he
secretly nursed the idea, studying it, examining it in all
respects, weighing its advantages and disadvantages, and at last
he decided that it was a good one. That same year, indeed,
assisted by a little capital which he had obtained no one knew
how, he created a new, strange, and untried profession to supply a
new demand.
Thus Vaudore was the first man who made heir-hunting a profession.
As will be generally admitted, it is not a profession that can be
successfully followed by a craven. It requires the exercise of
unusual shrewdness, untiring activity, extraordinary energy and
courage, as well as great tact and varied knowledge.
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