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Why did not Messieurs Boehmer and Bassange wait on me, when they saw a document unauthorised by me, and so widely departing from the established forms?
The necklace, which has been already spoken of, and which was originally destined by Louis XV. for Marie Antoinette had her hand, by divorce, been transferred to him but which, though afterwards intended by Louis XV. for his mistress, Du Barry, never came to her in consequence of his death this fatal necklace was still in existence, and in the possession of the crown jewellers, Boehmer and Bassange.
All he could utter, and that only in broken accents, was, 'I'll pay! I'll pay Messieurs Bassange. "Had he not speedily recovered himself, all the mystery in which this affair has been left, so injuriously to the Queen, might have been prevented.
All he could utter, and that only in broken accents, was, 'I'll pay! I'll pay Messieurs Bassange. "Had he not speedily recovered himself, all the mystery in which this affair has been left, so injuriously to the Queen, might have been prevented.
I must still think, as I have often said to the King, that Boehmer and Bassange wished to get rid of this dead weight of diamonds in any way; and the Queen having unfortunately been led by me to hush up many foul libels against her reputation, as I then thought it prudent she should do, rather than compromise her character with wretches capable of doing anything to injure her, these jewellers, judging from this erroneous policy of the past, imagined that in this instance, also, rather than hazard exposure, Her Majesty would pay them for the necklace.
On the contrary, the King himself had spontaneously offered to purchase the necklace from the jewellers, who had urged it on him without limiting any time for payment. It was the intention of His Majesty to have liquidated it out of his private purse. But Marie Antoinette declined the gift. Twice in my presence was the refusal repeated before Messieurs Boehmer and Bassange.
"How could Messieurs Boehmer and Bassange presume that the Queen would have employed any third person to obtain an article of such value, without enabling them to produce an unequivocal document signed by her own hand and countersigned by mine, as had ever been the rule during my superintendence of the household, whenever anything was ordered from the jewellers by Her Majesty?
I must still think, as I have often said to the King, that Boehmer and Bassange wished to get rid of this dead weight of diamonds in any way; and the Queen having unfortunately been led by me to hush up many foul libels against her reputation, as I then thought it prudent she should do, rather than compromise her character with wretches capable of doing anything to injure her, these jewellers, judging from this erroneous policy of the past, imagined that in this instance, also, rather than hazard exposure, Her Majesty would pay them for the necklace.
I shall now give a brief account of this celebrated imposition perhaps the boldest and shrewdest ever known, and almost wholly the work of a woman. On the Quai de la Ferraille, not far from the Pont Neuf, stood the establishment, part shop, part manufactory, of Messrs. Boehmer & Bassange, the most celebrated jewelers of their day.
The necklace, which has been already spoken of, and which was originally destined by Louis XV. for Marie Antoinette had her hand, by divorce, been transferred to him but which, though afterwards intended by Louis XV. for his mistress, Du Barry, never came to her in consequence of his death this fatal necklace was still in existence, and in the possession of the crown jewellers, Boehmer and Bassange.
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