Causes CHcbres. Unable to elicit more from him, the queen dismissed Boehmer. In a state of indescrib able agitation she summoned the Abbe de Vermond and the Baron de Breteuil. Both these men hated the cardinal, and they gave the queen the dangerous advice to unmask the intriguing and vicious hypocrite. They did not consider, imprudents that they were, that the name of the queen would inevitably be mixed up in this scandal. Marie Antoinette, superb in her indig nation, paced the chamber, stopping only, from time to time, to exclaim : " These hide ous vices must be unmasked. When the Roman purple and the title of prince con ceal only a villain and a swindler, it is neces sary that France and all Europe should know it." This step resolved upon, they asked from Boehmer and Bassange a statement of all the particulars concerning the mysterious negotiation which the cardinal had had with them. The two associates gave the desired facts, in substance as follows : — "On the 24th of January in the present year, M. le Cardinal de Rohan came to our store, and asked us to show him some jewels. We profited by this occasion to show him the necklace. After examining it, he told us that he had heard of it, and that he was commissioned to ask the price. We fixed it at 1,600,000 livres. The prince then said that he was charged with the purchase of it, not for himself, but for a person whom he was sure we would accept as a purchaser, telling us that he did not know as he could name this person; and that in case he was not permitted to, he would make all the necessary arrangements himself. . . . Two days later, the prince again visited us, and enjoining upon us the greatest secrecy, he communicated to us, in his own handwriting, the propositions which he was authorized to make us, a copy of which is hereto annexed. . . . On the 1st of February the prince made known to us the fact that her Majesty the Queen was the purchaser, and showed us the propositions which we had accepted,
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signed, " Marie Antoinette of France; " and in the margin each of the propositions was approved by her." It will be observed that in this first state ment the jewellers bring but one person into the affair, — the cardinal. He alone conducted and terminated the negotia tion. As soon as this statement had been re ceived, the intrigue was made known to Louis XVI.; they showed him a copy of the pretended authorization given by the queen to the cardinal to negotiate the pur chase of the necklace. Boehmer delivered up a letter which M. tie Rohan had written him on this subject. The arrest of the cardinal was decided upon. On the 15th of August the cardinal, clothed in his sacerdotal robes, went to the palace chapel at Versailles. About noon the king sent for him. The queen, the Baron de Breteuil, and a few courtiers were present. Then the king said, — "You bought some diamonds of Boehmer?" "Yes, Sire." "What did you do with them?" "I believed that they were sent to the queen." "Who charged you with this commis sion?" "A lady called the Comtesse de la MotteValois, who presented me a letter from the queen; and I thought that I was doing her Majesty a favor in charging myself with this commission." Then the queen exclaimed : "What, Mon sieur, could you believe — you, to whom I have never addressed a word for eight years — that I should choose you to conduct this negotiation, and through the intervention of such a woman? How could you imagine that I would give the purchasing of my ornaments to a bishop, to the grand almoner of France?" "I see plainly," replied the cardinal, " that I have been cruelly deceived. I will pay for the necklace. My desire to please your
