"
"Good Heaven! How do you know these details?" asked the king, in
amazement.
"Sire, I have learned them from Madame de Campan herself, as I was
compelled to speak with her about the necklace."
"But what is it about this necklace? What has the queen to do with
that?" asked the king, wiping with a lace handkerchief the sweat
which stood in great drops upon his lofty forehead.
"Sire, the court jeweller, Bohmer, asserts that he sold the necklace
of brilliants to the queen, and now desires to be paid."
"The queen is right," exclaimed the king, "the man is out of his
head. If he did sell the necklace to the queen, there must have been
witnesses present to confirm it, and the keepers of her majesty's
purse would certainly know about it."
"Sire, Bohmer asserts that the queen caused it to be bought of him
in secret, through a third hand, and that this confidential
messenger was empowered to pay down thirty thousand francs, and to
promise two hundred thousand more."
"What is the name of this confidential messenger? What do they call
him?"
"Sire," answered the Baron de Breteuil, solemnly--"sire, it is the
cardinal and grand almoner of your majesty, Prince Louis de Rohan."
The king uttered a loud cry, and sprang quickly from his seat.
"Rohan?" asked he. "And do they dare to bring this man whom the
queen hates, whom she scorns, into relations with her? Ha, Breteuil!
you can go; the story is too foolishly put together for any one to
believe it.
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