grave look toward the tribune where the spectators sat, but his
reproach died away upon lips which disclosed a faint inclination to
smile.

"I now beg your eminence," he said, "to answer the following
question: " Did Queen Marie Antoinette personally thank you for the
great service which, according to your showing, you did her? How is
it with the payments which the queen pledged herself to make?"

The cardinal was silent for a short time, and looked sadly before
him. "Since the day when I closed this unfortunate purchase, I have
experienced only disquietudes, griefs, and humiliations. This is the
only return which I have received for my devotion. The queen has
never bestowed a word upon me. At the great festival she did not
even wear the necklace which she had sent for on the evening before.
I complained of this to the countess, and the queen had the goodness
to write me a note, saying that she had found the necklace too
valuable to wear on that day, because it would have attracted the
attention of the king and the court. I confided in the words of the
queen, and experienced no doubts about the matter till the unhappy
day when the queen was to make the first payment to the jewellers,
and when she sent neither to me nor to the jewellers a word. Upon
this a fearful suspicion began to trouble me,--that my devotion to
the queen might have been taken advantage of, in order to deceive
and mislead me. When this dreadful thought seized me, I shuddered,
and had not power to look down into the abyss which suddenly yawned
beneath me. I at once summoned the Countess Lamotte, and desired her
solution of this inexplicable conduct of the queen. She told me that
she had been on the point of coming to me and informing me, at the
request of the queen, that other necessary outlays had prevented the