by Daniel Defoe
to.
Besides, I should add, at the close of this affair, that the prince didnot, as I may say, turn me off rudely and with disgust, but with all thedecency and goodness peculiar to himself, and that could consist with aman reformed and struck with the sense of his having abused so good alady as his late princess had been. Nor did he send me away empty, butdid everything like himself; and, in particular, ordered his gentlemanto pay the rent of the house and all the expense of his two sons, and totell me how they were taken care of, and where, and also that I might atall times inspect the usage they had, and if I disliked anything itshould be rectified; and having thus finished everything, he retiredinto Lorraine, or somewhere that way, where he had an estate, and Inever heard of him more--I mean, not as a mistress.
Now I was at liberty to go to any part of the world, and take care of mymoney myself. The first thing that I resolved to do was to go directlyto England, for there, I thought, being among my country-folks--for Iesteemed myself an Englishwoman, though I was born in France--there, Isay, I thought I could better manage things than in France; at least,that I would be in less danger of being circumvented and deceived; buthow to get away with such a treasure as I had with me was a difficultpoint, and what I was greatly at a loss about.
There was a Dutch merchant in Paris, that was a person of greatreputation for a man of substance and of honesty, but I had no manner ofacquaintance with him, nor did I know how to get acquainted with him, soas to discover my circumstances to him; but at last I employed my maidAmy (such I must be allowed to call her, notwithstanding what has beensaid of her, because she was in the place of a maid-servant); I say, Iemployed my maid Amy to go to him, and she got a recommendation to himfrom somebody else, I knew not who, so that she got access to him wellenough.
But now was my case as bad as before, for when I came to him what couldI do? I had money and jewels to a vast value, and I might leave allthose with him; that I might indeed do; and so I might with severalother merchants in Paris, who would give me bills for it, payable atLondon; but then I ran a hazard of my money, and I had nobody at Londonto send the bills to, and so to stay till I had an account that theywere accepted; for I had not one friend in London that I could haverecourse to, so that indeed I knew not what to do.
In this case I had no remedy but that I must trust somebody, so I sentAmy to this Dutch merchant, as I said above. He was a little surprisedwhen Amy came to him and talked to him of remitting a sum of abouttwelve thousand pistoles to England, and began to think she came to putsome cheat upon him; but when he found that Amy was but a servant, andthat I came to him myself, the case was altered presently.
When I came to him myself, I presently saw such a plainness in hisdealing and such honesty in his countenance that I made no scruple totell him my whole story, viz., that I was a widow, that I had somejewels to dispose of, and also some money which I had a mind to send toEngland, and to follow there myself; but being but a woman, and havingno correspondence in London, or anywhere else, I knew not what to do,or how to secure my effects.
He dealt very candidly with me, but advised me, when he knew my case soparticularly, to take bills upon Amsterdam, and to go that way toEngland; for that I might lodge my treasure in the bank there, in themost secure manner in the world, and that there he could recommend me toa man who perfectly understood jewels, and would deal faithfully with mein the disposing them.
I thanked him, but scrupled very much the travelling so far in a strangecountry, and especially with such a treasure about me; that, whetherknown or concealed, I did not know how to venture with it. Then he toldme he would try to dispose of them there, that is, at Paris, and convertthem into money, and so get me bills for the whole; and in a few days hebrought a Jew to me, who pretended to buy the jewels. As soon as the Jewsaw the jewels I saw my folly, and it was ten thousand to one but I hadbeen ruined, and perhaps put to death in as cruel a manner as possible;and I was put in such a fright by it that I was once upon the point offlying for my life, and leaving the jewels and money too in the hands ofthe Dutchman, without any bills or anything else. The case was thus:--
As soon as the Jew saw the jewels he falls a-jabbering, in Dutch orPortuguese, to the merchant; and I could presently perceive that theywere in some great surprise, both of them. The Jew held up his hands,looked at me with some horror, then talked Dutch again, and put himselfinto a thousand shapes, twisting his body and wringing up his face thisway and that way in his discourse, stamping with his feet, and throwingabroad his hands, as if he was not in a rage only, but in a mere fury.Then he would turn and give a look at me like the devil. I thought Inever saw anything so frightful in my life.
At length I put in a word. "Sir," says I to the Dutch merchant, "what isall this discourse to my business? What is this gentleman in all thesepassions about? I wish, if he is to treat with me, he would speak that Imay understand him; or if you have business of your own between you thatis to be done first, let me withdraw, and I'll come again when you areat leisure."
"No, no, madam," says the Dutchman very kindly, "you must not go; allour discourse is about you and your jewels, and you shall hear itpresently; it concerns you very much, I assure you." "Concern me!" saysI. "What can it concern me so much as to put this gentleman into suchagonies, and what makes him give me such devil's looks as he does? Why,he looks as if he would devour me."
The Jew understood me presently, continuing in a kind of rage, and spokein French: "Yes, madam, it does concern you much, very much, very much,"repeating the words, shaking his head; and then turning to the Dutchman,"Sir," says he, "pray tell her what is the case." "No," says themerchant, "not yet; let us talk a little farther of it by ourselves;"upon which they withdrew into another room, where still they talked veryhigh, but in a language I did not understand. I began to be a littlesurprised at what the Jew had said, you may be sure, and eager to knowwhat he meant, and was very impatient till the Dutch merchant came back,and that so impatient that I called one of his servants to let him knowI desired to speak with him. When he came in I asked his pardon forbeing so impatient, but told him I could not be easy till he had told mewhat the meaning of all this was. "Why, madam," says the Dutch merchant,"in short, the meaning is what I am surprised at too. This man is a Jew,and understands jewels perfectly well, and that was the reason I sentfor him, to dispose of them to him for you; but as soon as he saw them,he knew the jewels very distinctly, and flying out in a passion, as yousee he did, told me, in short, that they were the very parcel of jewelswhich the English jeweller had about him who was robbed going toVersailles, about eight years ago, to show them the Prince de ----, andthat it was for these very jewels that the poor gentleman was murdered;and he is in all this agony to make me ask you how you came by them; andhe says you ought to be charged with the robbery and murder, and put tothe question to discover who were the persons that did it, that theymight be brought to justice." While he said this the Jew came impudentlyback into the room without calling, which a little surprised me again.
The Dutch merchant spoke pretty good English, and he knew that the Jewdid not understand English at all, so he told me the latter part, whenhe came into the room, in English, at which I smiled, which put the Jewinto his mad fit again, and shaking his head and making his devil'sfaces again, he seemed to threaten me for laughing, saying, in French,this was an affair I should have little reason to laugh at, and thelike. At this I laughed again, and flouted him, letting him see that Iscorned him, and turning to the Dutch merchant, "Sir," says I, "thatthose jewels were belonging to Mr. ----, the English jeweller" (naminghis name readily), "in that," says I, "this person is right; but that Ishould be questioned how I came to have them is a token of hisignorance, which, however, he might have managed with a little more goodmanners, till I told him who I am, and both he and you too will be moreeasy in that part when I should tell you that I am the unhappy widow ofthat Mr. ---- who was so barbarously murdered going to Versailles, andthat he was not robbed of those jewels, but of others, Mr. ---- havingleft those
behind him with me, lest he should be robbed. Had I, sir,come otherwise by them, I should not have been weak enough to haveexposed them to sale here, where the thing was done, but have carriedthem farther off."
This was an agreeable surprise to the Dutch merchant, who, being anhonest man himself, believed everything I said, which, indeed, being allreally and literally true, except the deficiency of my marriage, I spokewith such an unconcerned easiness that it might plainly be seen that Ihad no guilt upon me, as the Jew suggested.
The Jew was confounded when he heard that I was the jeweller's wife. Butas I had raised his passion with saying he looked at me with the devil'sface, he studied mischief in his heart, and answered, that should notserve my turn; so called the Dutchman out again, when he told him thathe resolved to prosecute this matter