She burst out: “Madame, a very strange thing happened at my father-in-law’s house. I wanted to speak to you of it as soon as I was admitted to your presence. Have I your per mission to tell you all?”
“Please do so.”
“When Monsieur Boehmer came to dine with my father-in-law, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to pass on your message to him.
Madame, I cannot describe his astonishment. Then he stammered out that he had written a letter to you and had had no reply. I understood it was the one which had come with the King’s gift to Monsieur d’Angouleme. I told him I had seen it and it had not seemed very comprehensible. He replied that he supposed it would not be to me but that the Queen would understand. Other guests were arriving and it was my duty to help receive them, so I. tried to excuse myself, but Monsieur Boehmer asked me if I would allow him to talk to me later.
His manner was so extraordinary that I said we would take a walk in the gardens at a suitable moment and then he could tell me what he wished to. “
“The man is quite mad, I am sure of it.”
“Madame, his such an extraordinary story, but he swears it is true.”
“Pray go on ” He said: “The Queen owes me a large sum of money” “
“I’m sure that is not true. His account has been settled.”
“Madame, he went on: ” The Queen has bought my diamond necklace”.”
“Oh, no! Not that thing again. The Sultan of Turkey has it.”
“He says that is not so, Madame. That was merely a tale he was asked to put about. I told him that he must be dreaming. I said: ” The Queen refused to buy the necklace long ago, and as a matter of fact I knew that His Majesty had offered to buy it for her and sdll she refused it” He said: ” She changed her mind”.”
“Oh, Campan, what does all this nonsense mean?”
“I do not know, Madame, but Boehmer tells a very strange story. He assured me that you had bought the necklace. I replied that it was impossible. I had never seen it among your jewels. Boehmer said that he had been told you were to wear it on Whit-Sunday and was very surprised that you did not.”
“My dear Campan, this is the most utter nonsense. I told you Boehmer was mad.”
“Yes, Madame, but he talked so earnestly. He seemed so sensible so sure. I asked when you had told him that you had made up your mind to buy the necklace, for I knew you would not see him and had not done so for a very long time. He then said a strange thing, Madame. He said that the Cardinal de Rohan acted for you.”
“The Cardinal de Rohan I Then he is quite, quite mad. I loathe Rohan.
I haven’t spoken to him for eight years. “
“I told Boehmer this, Madame, and he said Your Majesty pretended to be on bad terms with Rohan, but in fact you were very great friends.”
“Oh, this grows madder and madder.”
“As it seemed to me, Madame. I pointed this out to Boehmer but he was so insistent that he spoke the truth, and indeed, Madame, if he is mad he makes a very good show of being sane. He had an answer to everything. He said that ” Your Majesty’s commands were transmitted to him by letters which bore Your Majesty’s signature and that be had to use them to satisfy his creditors. The necklace was to be paid for in instalments, and that he had already received 30,000 francs which Your Majesty had given the Cardinal to give to him, Boehmer, when the necklace was handed over. “
“I don’t understand this!” I cried; but it no longer seemed a joke.
There was something very mysterious going on.
“I believe,” I said, ‘that a great fraud may well have been played on Boehmer. We must get to the bottom of this. I will send for him at once. “
I sent a messenger to Paris and commanded the jeweller to come to the Trianon without delay.
“Monsieur Boehmer,” I said.
“I wish to know why I am expected to listen to mad assertions that you have sold me a necklace which I have often refused to buy.”
“Madame,” he answered, “I am forced to this unpleasant business because I must satisfy my creditors.”
“I fail to see where your creditors concern me.”
“Madame,” he replied in great distress, ‘it is too late to pretend.
Unless Your Majesty will be so good as to admit you have the necklace and give me some money, I shall be declared bankrupt and the reason will be known to all. “
“You talk in riddles. Monsieur. I know nothing of this necklace.”
The man was almost in tears.
“Madame,” he said, ‘forgive me, but I must have my money. “
“Madame, the Cardinal de Rohan paid me the first instalment when I handed the necklace to him. I must have the money owing to me….”
I could not bear to look at the man.
I said: “There has been some fraud here. It must be examined. Go now.
Monsieur Boehmer, but I promise you that I will look into this matter without delay. “
He left me and I went into my bedchamber, where I remained. I was trembling with apprehension. Something very strange was happening about me, and at the centre of it was that sinister man—the Cardinal de Rohan.
It was a fraud, of course. The man was a scoundrel. He had acquired the diamond necklace and pretended that I had bought it.
I had heard a great deal about him since that day he officiated at Strasbourg when I had first come to France. My mother was constantly writing to me about him when he was ambassador to Austria and she had urged Mercy to do all he could to get him recalled.
“All our young and plain women are bewitched by him,” she had written.
“His language is extremely improper and this ill becomes his position as priest and minister. He insolently uses these expressions no matter what company he is in. His suite follow his example they are without merit or morals.” Neither I nor Mercy had been in a position to have him removed from Vienna, but when my husband became King it was a different matter. My mother wrote that she was pleased to see an end to ‘his horrible and shameful embassy. ” She had written warning letters, I must be wary of this man;
he would bring me no good, I must not be charmed by him for he was a flatterer and could be very amusing. I saw him as a kind of ogre and had refused to receive him. My feelings towards him were not softened when I heard that he had written a letter to the Due d’Aiguillon about my mother and that Madame du Barry had read it aloud at one of her salons. In it he wrote:
“Maria Theresa wept over the misery of oppressed Poland, but she is an adept at concealing her thoughts and seems to produce tears at will.
In one hand she holds a handkerchief to dry her tears and in the other a sword, so as to be the third sharer. “
This letter had arrived at the time when I was making matters worse by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry, and my mother, while making stem rules against the prostitutes of Vienna, was urging me not to irritate the situation between France and Austria by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry.
I loathed the man. I refused to speak to him; and I believe that. the desire to find a way into my good graces obsessed him. The more I ignored him, the more he tried to gain my favour, and I was determined not to give it.
He had scored over me in one way. It was not my wish that he should hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. I had been annoyed when I had heard that he had baptised my babies; but what could be done about it when he held that high post?
Madame de Marsan, Rohan’s cousin, had asked my husband, without my knowledge, that the post should be Rohan’s, and Louis, who liked to please people, had given his word that it should be. When I discovered this, I determined to prevent it, particularly as Mercy and my mother were urging me to do so. I told Louis that he could not allow a man who had insulted my mother to hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. It was unfortunate, said my husband, but he had promised Madame de Marsan, and he did not see how he could go back on his word.
“I can see!’ I cried.
