The lady indicated to the lord cardinal
that the queen would be delighted if he would advance a sum
sufficient to buy the jewels with, and in his name she would cause
the costly fabric to be purchased. The cardinal, all the while a
devoted and true servant of the king, hastened to gratify the desire
of the queen. He took this course with wise precaution, in order
that the queen, whose violence is well known, should not apply to
any other member of the court, and still further compromise the
royal honor. And say yourselves, my noble friends, was it not much
better that it should be the lord cardinal who should lend money to
the queen, than Lord Lauzun, Count Coigny, or the musical Count
Vaudreuil, the special favorite of the queen? Was it not better for
him to make this sacrifice and do the queen this great favor?"
"Certainly it was better," cried the mob. "The lord cardinal is a
noble man. Long live Cardinal de Rohan!"
"Perish the Austrian, perish the jewelled queen!" cried the cobbler
Simon, who was standing amid the crowd, and a hundred voices
muttered after him, "Perish the Austrian!"
"Listen, my dear people of Paris, you good natured lambs, whose wool
is plucked off that the Austrian woman may have a softer bed," cried
a shrieking voice; "hear what has occurred to-day. I can tell you
accurately, for I have just come from Parliament, and a good friend
of mine has copied for me the address with which the king is going
to open the session today.
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