suffer for what they have done and are guilty of. My whole crime
lies in this, that I helped the Queen of France gain the jewels for
which her idle and trivial soul longed; that I helped the amorous
and light-minded cardinal approach the object of his love, and
procured for him an interview with the queen. That is all that can
be charged upon me; I procured for the queen the fine necklace of
Messrs. Bohmer and Bassenge; I gave the cardinal, as the price of a
part of the necklace, a tender tete-a-tete with the queen. The
cardinal will not deny that in the garden of Versailles he had a
rendezvous with the queen, that he kissed her hand and received a
rose from her; and the queen will be compelled to confess in the end
that the necklace is in her possession. What blame can be laid on me
for this?"

"The blame of deception, of defalcation, of forgery, of calumny, of
theft," replied the president, with solemn earnestness. "You
deceived Cardinal de Rohan in saying that you knew the queen, that
you were intimate with her, that she honored you with her
confidence. You forged, or got some one to forge, the handwriting of
the queen, and prepared letters which you gave to the cardinal,
pretending that they came from the queen. You misused the devotion
of the cardinal to the royal family, and caused his eminence to
believe that the queen desired his services in the purchase of the
necklace; and after the cardinal, full of pleasure, had been able to
do a service to the queen, had treated with Bohmer and Bassenge, had
paid a part of the purchase money, and gave you the necklace in
charge to be put into the queen's hands, you were guilty of theft,
for the queen knows nothing of the necklace; the queen never gave
you the honor of an audience, the queen never spoke with you, and no
one of the queen's companions ever saw the Countess Lamotte."