shown me the jewels I have told you that I would not purchase them. Take the neck lace, divide it, and sell the stones separately. I refuse absolutely to take it." For a long time after this nothing was heard of the jeweller or his necklace; but a day came when Boehmer was again' seen roaming about the palace, seeking an oppor tunity to speak to the queen. This time he wished, he said, not to entreat her Majesty, but to express to her his heartfelt gratitude. The occasion seized by Boehmer was the baptism of the Due d'Angouleme. The king had wished to present Marie Antoinette with a pair of diamond buckles in honor of the event, and had ordered Boehmer to send them to the queen. He presented them personally, and at the same time handed her a letter. In this letter the jeweller said that he was " happy to know that she was the possessor of the most beautiful diamonds in Europe," and begged her " not to forget him." The queen was unable to comprehend the meaning of these phrases, and saw in them only a proof of insanity on the part of Boehmer. She burned the letter, saying, "That is not worth keeping." On the 3d of August, uneasy at not re ceiving any reply to his letter, Boehmer went to see Madame de Campan at her country-house at Crespy, and asked if she had not some message for him. When he learned that the queen had burned his letter, without being able to comprehend his mean ing, he cried, — "Ah, Madame, that cannot be possible. The queen knows that she owes me money." "Money! M. Boehmer, your account with the queen was settled long ago." "Madame, you are not then in her con fidence," replied the jeweller; " the queen owes me more than 1,500,000 francs." "Have you lost your mind? " exclaimed Madame de Campan. " For what can the queen owe you such an enormous amount?" "For my magnificent necklace, Madame." "What! still the necklace, about which
you have tormented the queen for so long a time? Why, you yourself told me that you had sold it to go to Constantinople." "That was because the queen had ordered me to make this reply to all who should speak to me of it." "Come, come! M. Boehmer, the queen positively refused your necklace, even as a gift from the king." "She changed her mind." "I have never seen this necklace among her diamonds." "She was to have worn it on Whitsunday, and I was much astonished that she did not do so." Then this fatal imbfci/e, as Madame de Campan calls him, said that the queen had purchased the necklace through the Car dinal de Rohan. At this name Madame de Campan perceived that some dark intrigue was at the bottom of the affair. "But do you not know," she said, " that the queen has not even spoken to the car dinal since his return from Vienna? There is not a man in more disfavor with the court." Madame de Campan then advised Boeh mer to go to Versailles, and at once solicit an interview with the Baron de Breteuil. Instead of following her advice, the jeweller hastened to the cardinal. Marie Antoinette, warned by Madame de Campan of Boehmer's strange assertions, wished to hear from his own lips the con firmation of this astonishing lie. She sent for him, and on his arrival asked him what he meant by his statement. Boehmer repeated his story, and gave all the details regarding the sale of the neck lace. When he happened to speak of mys terious interviews which had taken place between the queen and the cardinal, Marie Antoinette arose indignantly, and sought to impose silence upon the insolent man; but Boehmer, his mind filled with one idea, ex claimed, " Madame, this is no time to feign; confess that you have my necklace, and pay me something on account, or I shall be forced into immediate bankruptcy."
