Le collier de la reine. English

by Alexandre Dumas

  CHAPTER LXXXVII.

  THE TURTLES ARE CAGED.

  Beausire, on entering the house, made a noise to attract Oliva'sattention, for, though he knew nothing about her later escapades, heknew enough about the ball at the Opera, and the morning at M. Mesmer's,to make him fear letting her be seen by strangers. Accordingly, Oliva,hearing the dogs bark, looked out, and, seeing Beausire returning withtwo strangers, did not come to meet him as usual. Unfortunately theservant asked if he should call madame. The men rallied him about thelady whom he had concealed; he let them laugh, but did not offer to callher. They dined; then Beausire asked where they had met him before. "Weare," replied they, "friends of one of your associates in a littleaffair about the Portuguese embassy."

  Beausire turned pale.

  "Ah!" said he: "and you came on your friend's part?"

  "Yes, dear M. Beausire, to ask for 10,000 francs."

  "Gentlemen," replied Beausire, "you cannot think I have such a sum inthe house."

  "Very likely not, monsieur; we do not ask for impossibilities. How muchhave you?"

  "Not more than fifty or sixty louis."

  "We will take them to begin with."

  "I will go and fetch them," said Beausire. But they did not choose tolet him leave the room without them, so they caught hold of him by thecoat, saying:

  "Oh no, dear M. Beausire, do not leave us."

  "But how am I to get the money if I do not leave you?"

  "We will go with you."

  "But it is in my wife's bedroom."

  "Ah," cried one of them, "you hide your wife from us!"

  "Are we not presentable?" asked the other. "We wish to see her."

  "You are tipsy, and I will turn you out!" said Beausire.

  They laughed.

  "Now you shall not even have the money I promised," said he, emboldenedby what he thought their intoxication; and he ran out of the room.

  They followed and caught him; he cried out, and at the sound a dooropened, and a woman looked out with a frightened air. On seeing her, themen released Beausire, and gave a cry of exultation, for they recognizedher immediately who resembled the Queen of France so strongly.

  Beausire, who believed them for a moment disarmed by the sight of awoman, was soon cruelly undeceived.

  One of the men approached Oliva, and said:

  "I arrest you."

  "Arrest her! Why?" cried Beausire.

  "Because it is M. de Crosne's orders."

  A thunderbolt falling between the lovers would have frightened them lessthan this declaration.

  At last Beausire said, "You came to arrest me?"

  "No; it was a chance."

  "Never mind, you might have arrested me, and for sixty louis you wereabout to leave me at liberty."

  "Oh no, we should have asked another sixty; however, for one hundred wewill do so."

  "And madame?"

  "Oh, that is quite a different affair."

  "She is worth two hundred louis," said Beausire.

  They laughed again, and this time Beausire began to understand thisterrible laugh.

  "Three hundred, four hundred, a thousand--see, I will give you onethousand louis to leave her at liberty!"

  They did not answer.

  "Is not that enough? Ah, you know I have money, and you want to make mepay. Well, I will give you two thousand louis; it will make both yourfortunes!"

  "For 100,000 crowns we would not give up this woman. M. de Rohan willgive us 500,000 francs for her, and the queen 1,000,000. Now we must go.You doubtless have a carriage of some kind here; have it prepared formadame. We will take you also, for form's sake; but on the way you canescape, and we will shut our eyes."

  Beausire replied, "Where she goes, I will go; I will never leave her."

  "Oh, so much the better; the more prisoners we bring M. de Crosne, thebetter he will be pleased."

  A quarter of an hour after, Beausire's carriage started, with the twolovers in it. One may imagine the effect of this capture on M. deCrosne. The agents probably did not receive the 1,000,000 francs theyhoped for, but there is reason to believe they were satisfied. M. deCrosne went to Versailles, followed by another carriage well guarded. Heasked to see the queen, and was instantly admitted. She judged from hisface that he had good news for her, and felt the first sensation of joyshe had experienced for a month.

  "Madame," said M. de Crosne, "have you a room here where you can seewithout being seen?"

  "Oh yes--my library."

  "Well, madame, I have a carriage below, in which is some one whom I wishto introduce into the castle unseen by any one."

  "Nothing more easy," replied the queen, ringing to give her orders.

  All was executed as he wished. Then she conducted M. de Crosne to thelibrary, where, concealed from view behind a large screen, she soon sawenter a form which made her utter a cry of surprise. It was Oliva,dressed in one of her own favorite costumes--a green dress with broadstripes of black moiree, green satin slippers with high heels, and herhair dressed like her own. It might have been herself reflected in theglass.

  "What says your majesty to this resemblance?" asked M. de Crosne,triumphantly.

  "Incredible," said the queen. She then thought to herself, "Ah! Charny;why are you not here?"

  "What does your majesty wish?"

  "Nothing, sir, but that the king should know."

  "And M. de Provence see her? shall he not, madame?"

  "Thanks, M. de Crosne, you hold now, I think, the clue to the wholeplot."

  "Nearly so, madame."

  "And M. de Rohan?"

  "Knows nothing yet."

  "Ah!" cried the queen; "in this woman, doubtless, lies all his error."

  "Possibly, madame; but if it be his error it is the crime of some oneelse."

  "Seek well, sir; the honor of France is in your hands."

  "Believe me worthy of the trust. At present, the accused parties denyeverything. I shall wait for the proper time to overwhelm them with thisliving witness that I now hold."

  "Madame de la Motte?"

  "Knows nothing of this capture. She accuses M. de Cagliostro of havingexcited the cardinal to say what he did."

  "And what does M. de Cagliostro say?"

  "He has promised to come to me this morning. He is a dangerous man, buta useful one, and attacked by Madame de la Motte, I am in hopes he willsting back again."

  "You hope for revelations?"

  "I do."

  "How so, sir? Tell me everything which can reassure me."

  "These are my reasons, madame. Madame de la Motte lived in the Rue St.Claude, and M. de Cagliostro just opposite her. So I think her movementscannot have been unnoticed by him; but if your majesty will excuse me,it is close to the time he appointed to meet me."

  "Go, monsieur, go; and assure yourself of my gratitude."

  When he was gone the queen burst into tears. "My justification begins,"said she; "I shall soon read my triumph in all faces; but the one I mostcared to know me innocent, him I shall not see."

  M. de Crosne drove back to Paris, where M. de Cagliostro waited for him.He knew all; for he had discovered Beausire's retreat, and was on theroad to see him, and induce him to leave France, when he met thecarriage containing Beausire and Oliva. Beausire saw the count, and theidea crossed his mind that he might help them. He therefore accepted theoffer of the police-agents, gave them the hundred louis, and made hisescape, in spite of the tears shed by Oliva; saying, "I go to try andsave you." He ran after M. de Cagliostro's carriage, which he soonovertook, as the count had stopped, it being useless to proceed.Beausire soon told his story; Cagliostro listened in silence, then said,"She is lost."

  "Why so?" Then Cagliostro told him all he did not already know--all theintrigues in the park.

  "Oh! save her," cried Beausire; "and I will give her to you, if you loveher still."

  "My friend," replied Cagliostro, "you deceive yourself; I never lovedMademoiselle Oliva; I had but one aim--that of weaning her from the lifeof
debauchery she was leading with you."

  "But----" said Beausire.

  "That astonishes you--know that I belong to a society whose object ismoral reform. Ask her if ever she heard from my mouth one word ofgallantry, or if my services were not disinterested."

  "Oh, monsieur! but will you save her?"

  "I will try, but it will depend on yourself."

  "I will do anything."

  "Then return with me to Paris, and if you follow my instructionsimplicitly, we may succeed in saving her. I only impose one condition,which I will tell you when I reach home."

  "I promise beforehand. But can I see her again?"

  "I think so, and you can tell her what I say to you." In two hours theyovertook the carriage containing Oliva, and Beausire bought for fiftylouis permission to embrace her, and tell her all the count had said.The agents admired this violent love, and hoped for more louis, butBeausire was gone. Cagliostro drove him to Paris.

  We will now return to M. de Crosne.

  This gentleman knew a good deal about Cagliostro, his former names, hispretensions to ubiquity and perpetual regeneration, his secrets inalchemy and magnetism, and looked upon him as a great charlatan.

  "Monsieur," said he to Cagliostro, "you asked me for an audience; I havereturned from Versailles to meet you."

  "Sir, I thought you would wish to question me about what is passing, soI came to you."

  "Question you?" said the magistrate, affecting surprise. "On what?"

  "Monsieur," replied Cagliostro, "you are much occupied about Madame dela Motte, and the missing necklace."

  "Have you found it?" asked M. de Crosne, laughing.

  "No, sir, but Madame de la Motte lived in the Rue St. Claude----"

  "I know, opposite you."

  "Oh, if you know all about Oliva, I have nothing more to tell you."

  "Who is Oliva?"

  "You do not know? Then, sir, imagine a young girl very pretty, with blueeyes, and an oval face, a style of beauty something like her majesty,for instance."

  "Well, sir?"

  "This young girl led a bad life; it gave me pain to see it; for she wasonce in the service of an old friend of mine, M. de Taverney--but Iweary you."

  "Oh no, pray go on."

  "Well, Oliva led not only a bad life, but an unhappy one, with a fellowshe called her lover, who beat and robbed her."

  "Beausire," said the magistrate.

  "Ah! you know him. You are still more a magician than I am. Well, oneday when Beausire had beaten the poor girl more than usual, she fled tome for refuge; I pitied her, and gave her shelter in one of my houses."

  "In your house!" cried M. de Crosne in surprise.

  "Oh! why not? I am a bachelor," said Cagliostro, with an air which quitedeceived M. de Crosne.

  "That is then the reason why my agents could not find her."

  "What! you were seeking this little girl? Had she then been guilty ofany crime?"

  "No, sir, no; pray go on."

  "Oh! I have done. I lodged her at my house, and that is all."

  "No, sir, for you just now associated her name with that of Madame de laMotte."

  "Only as neighbors."

  "But, sir, this Oliva, whom you say you had in your house, I found inthe country with Beausire."

  "With Beausire? Ah! then I have wronged Madame de la Motte."

  "How so, sir?"

  "Why just as I thought I had hopes of reforming Oliva, and bringing herback to an honest life, some one carried her away from me."

  "That is strange."

  "Is it not? And I firmly believed it to be Madame de la Motte. But asyou found her with Beausire, it was not she, and all her signals andcorrespondence with Oliva meant nothing."

  "With Oliva?"

  "Yes."

  "They met?"

  "Yes, Madame de la Motte found a way to take Oliva out every night."

  "Are you sure of this?"

  "I saw and heard her."

  "Oh, sir, you tell me what I would have paid for with one thousandfrancs a word. But you are a friend of M. de Rohan?"

  "Yes."

  "You ought to know how far he was connected with this affair."

  "I do not wish to know."

  "But you know the object of these nightly excursions of Madame de laMotte and Oliva?"

  "Of that also I wish to be ignorant."

  "Sir, I only wish to ask you one more question. Have you proofs of thecorrespondence of Madame de la Motte and Oliva?"

  "Plenty."

  "What are they?"

  "Notes which Madame de la Motte used to throw over to Oliva with across-bow. Several of them did not reach their destination, and werepicked up either by myself, or my servants, in the street."

  "Sir, you will be ready to produce them, if called upon?"

  "Certainly; they are perfectly innocent, and cannot injure any one."

  "And have you any other proofs of intimacy?"

  "I know that she had a method of entering my house to see Oliva. I sawher myself, just after Oliva had disappeared, and my servants saw heralso."

  "But what did she come for, if Oliva was gone?"

  "I did not know. I saw her come out of a carriage at the corner of thestreet. My idea was that she wished to attach Oliva to her, and keep hernear her."

  "And you let her do it?"

  "Why not? She is a great lady, and received at court. Why should I haveprevented her taking charge of Oliva, and taking her off my hands?"

  "What did she say when she found that Oliva was gone?"

  "She appeared distressed."

  "You suppose that Beausire carried her off?"

  "I suppose so, for you tell me you found them together. I did notsuspect him before, for he did not know where she was."

  "She must have let him know herself."

  "I think not, as she had fled from him. I think Madame de la Motte musthave sent him a key."

  "Ah! what day was it?"

  "The evening of St. Louis."

  "Monsieur, you have rendered a great service to me and to the state."

  "I am happy to hear it."

  "You shall be thanked as you deserve. I may count on the production ofthe proofs you mention?"

  "I am ready, sir, to assist justice at all times."

  As Cagliostro left, he muttered, "Ah, countess! you tried to accuseme--take care of yourself."

  Meanwhile, M. de Breteuil was sent by the king to examine Madame de laMotte. She declared that she had proofs of her innocence, which shewould produce at the proper time; she also declared, that she would onlyspeak the truth in the presence of the cardinal. She was told that thecardinal laid all the blame upon her. "Tell him then," she said, "that Iadvise him not to persist in such a foolish system of defense."

  "Whom then do you accuse?" asked M. Breteuil.

  "I accuse no one," was her reply.

  A report was spread at last that the diamonds were being sold in Englandby M. Reteau de Villette. This man was soon found and arrested, andbrought over and confronted with Jeanne. To her utter confusion, heacknowledged that he had forged a receipt from the jewelers, and aletter from the queen at the request of Madame de la Motte. She deniedfuriously, and declared that she had never seen M. Reteau. M. de Crosneproduced as witness a coachman, who swore to having driven her, on theday named, to the house of M. Reteau. Also, one of the servants of M. deCagliostro deposed to having seen this man on the box of Jeanne'scarriage on the night that she came to his master's house. Now, Jeannebegan to abuse the count, and accused him of having inspired M. de Rohanwith the ideas inimical to the royal dignity. M. de Rohan defended him,and Jeanne at once plainly accused the cardinal of a violent love forthe queen. M. de Cagliostro requested to be incarcerated, and allowed toprove his innocence publicly. Then the queen caused to be published allthe reports made to the king about the nocturnal promenades, andrequested M. de Crosne to state all that he knew about it. This publicavowal overturned all Jeanne's plans, and she denied having assisted atany meetings
between the queen and the cardinal. This declaration wouldhave cleared the queen, had it been possible to attach any credence towhat this woman said. While Jeanne continued to deny that she had everbeen in the park, they brought forward Oliva at last, a living witnessof all the falsehoods of the countess. When Oliva was shown to thecardinal the blow was dreadful. He saw at last how infamously he hadbeen played upon. This man, so full of delicacy and noble passions,discovered that an adventuress had led him to insult and despise theQueen of France; a woman whom he loved, and who was innocent. He wouldhave shed all his blood at the feet of Marie Antoinette to makeatonement. But he could not even acknowledge his mistake without owningthat he loved her--even his excuse would involve an offense; so he wasobliged to keep silent, and allow Jeanne to deny everything. Olivaconfessed all without reserve. At last Jeanne, driven from every hold,confessed that she had deceived the cardinal, but declared that it wasdone with the consent of the queen, who watched and enjoyed the scene,hidden behind the trees. To this story she kept; the queen could neverdisprove it, and there were plenty of people willing to believe it true.