"Ah!" cried Louis, with a shout of laughter, "I know now whom you mean.
La pet.i.te Valois, is it not?--a countess of something or other."
"De la Motte, sire."
"Precisely, De la Motte; her husband is a gendarme."
"Yes, sire."
"And his wife is an intrigante. Oh! you need not trouble yourself about her: she is moving heaven and earth; she worries my ministers, she teases my aunts, and overwhelms me with supplications, memorials, and genealogies."
"And all this uselessly, sire."
"I must confess it."
"Is she, or is she not, a Valois?"
"I believe she is."
"Well, then, I ask an honorable pension for her and a regiment for her husband. In fact, a decent position for this branch of the royal family."
"An honorable pension? Mon Dieu! how you run on, madame. Do you know what a terrible hole this winter has made in my funds? A regiment for this little gendarme, who speculated in marrying a Valois? Why, I have no regiments to give, even to those who deserve them, or who can pay for them. An income befitting a Valois for these people? when we, monarch as we are, have not one befitting a rich gentleman. Why, M. d"Orleans has sent his horses and mules to England for sale, and has cut off a third of his establishment. I have put down my wolf-hounds, and given up many other things. We are all on the privation list, great and small."
"But these Valois must not die of hunger."
"Have you not just given them one hundred louis?"
"And what is that?"
"A royal gift."
"Then give such another."
"Yours will do for us both."
"No, I want a pension for them."
"No, I will not bind myself to anything fixed; they will not let me forget them, and I will give when I have money to spare. I do not think much of this little Valois."
Saying these words, Louis held out his hand to the queen, who, however, turned from him and said, "No, you are not good to me, and I am angry."
"You bear malice," said the king "and I----"
"Oh, you shut the gates against me; you come at half-past six to my room, and force open the door in a pa.s.sion."
"I was not in a pa.s.sion," said the king.
"You are not now, you mean."
"What will you give me if I prove that I was not, even when I came in?"
"Let me see the proof."
"Oh, it is very easy; I have it in my pocket."
"Bah!" said the queen; but adding, with curiosity, "You have brought something to give me, but I warn you I shall not believe you, unless you show it me at once."
Then, with a smile full of kindness, the king began searching in his pockets, with that slowness which makes the child doubly impatient for his toy, the animal for his food, and the woman for her present: at last he drew out a box of red morocco leather, artistically ornamented in gold.
"A jewel box!" cried the queen.
The king laid it on the bed.
She opened it impatiently, and then called out, "Oh, mon Dieu! how beautiful!"
The king smiled with delight. "Do you think so?" said he.
The queen could not answer--she was breathless with admiration. Then she drew out of the box a necklace of diamonds, so large, so pure, so glittering, and so even, that, with sparkling eyes, she cried again, "Oh! it is magnificent."
"Then you are content?" said the king.
"Enchanted, sire; you make me too happy."
"Really?"
"See this first row; the diamonds are as large as filberts, and so even, you could not tell one from the other; then how beautifully the gradation of the rows is managed; the jeweler who made this necklace is an artist."
"They are two."
"Then I wager it is Boehmer and Bossange."
"You have guessed right."
"Indeed, no one but they would risk making such a thing."
"Madame, take care," said the king; "you will have to pay too dear for this necklace."
"Oh, sire!" cried the queen, all the delight fading from her countenance.
"You must pay the price of letting me be the first to put it on:" and he approached her, holding in his hands the two ends of the magnificent necklace, of which the clasp was one great diamond.
She stopped him, saying, "But, sire, is it very dear?"
"Have I not told you the price?"
"Ah, Louis, we must not jest. Put the necklace back again."
"You refuse to allow me to put it on?"