Le collier de la reine. English Read online

  THE QUEEN'S NECKLACE

  Illustrated with Drawings on Wood byEminent French and American Artists

  CAGLIOSTRO AND OLIVA_Dumas, Vol. Eight_]

  New YorkP.F. Collier and SonMCMIV

  THE QUEEN'S NECKLACE.

  PROLOGUE.--THE PREDICTIONS.

  AN OLD NOBLEMAN AND AN OLD MAITRE-D'HOTEL.

  It was the beginning of April, 1784, between twelve and one o'clock. Ourold acquaintance, the Marshal de Richelieu, having with his own handscolored his eyebrows with a perfumed dye, pushed away the mirror whichwas held to him by his valet, the successor of his faithful Raffe andshaking his head in the manner peculiar to himself, "Ah!" said he, "nowI look myself;" and rising from his seat with juvenile vivacity, hecommenced shaking off the powder which had fallen from his wig over hisblue velvet coat, then, after taking a turn or two up and down his room,called for his maitre-d'hotel.

  In five minutes this personage made his appearance, elaborately dressed.

  The marshal turned towards him, and with a gravity befitting theoccasion, said, "Sir, I suppose you have prepared me a good dinner?"

  "Certainly, your grace."

  "You have the list of my guests?"

  "I remember them perfectly, your grace; I have prepared a dinner fornine."

  "There are two sorts of dinners, sir," said the marshal.

  "True, your grace, but----"

  The marshal interrupted him with a slightly impatient movement, althoughstill dignified.

  "Do you know, sir, that whenever I have heard the word 'but,' and I haveheard it many times in the course of eighty-eight years, it has beeneach time, I am sorry to say, the harbinger of some folly."

  "Your grace----"

  "In the first place, at what time do we dine?"

  "Your grace, the citizens dine at two, the bar at three, the nobility atfour----"

  "And I, sir?"

  "Your grace will dine to-day at five."

  "Oh, at five!"

  "Yes, your grace, like the king----"

  "And why like the king?"

  "Because, on the list of your guests, is the name of a king."

  "Not so, sir, you mistake; all my guests to-day are simply noblemen."

  "Your grace is surely jesting; the Count Haga,[A] who is among theguests----"

  [A] The name of Count Haga was well known as one assumed by the King ofSweden when traveling in France.

  "Well, sir!"

  "The Count Haga is a king."

  "I know no king so called."

  "Your grace must pardon me then," said the maitre-d'hotel, bowing, "but,I believed, supposed----"

  "Your business, sir, is neither to believe nor suppose; your business isto read, without comment, the orders I give you. When I wish a thing tobe known, I tell it; when I do not tell it, I wish it unknown."

  The maitre-d'hotel bowed again, more respectfully, perhaps, than hewould have done to a reigning monarch.

  "Therefore, sir," continued the old marshal, "you will, as I have nonebut noblemen to dinner, let us dine at my usual hour, four o'clock."

  At this order, the countenance of the maitre-d'hotel became clouded asif he had heard his sentence of death; he grew deadly pale; then,recovering himself, with the courage of despair he said, "In any event,your grace cannot dine before five o'clock."

  "Why so, sir?" cried the marshal.

  "Because it is utterly impossible."

  "Sir," said the marshal, with a haughty air, "it is now, I believe,twenty years since you entered my service?"

  "Twenty-one years, a month, and two weeks."

  "Well, sir, to these twenty-one years, a month, and two weeks, you willnot add a day, nor an hour. You understand me, sir," he continued,biting his thin lips and depressing his eyebrows; "this evening you seeka new master. I do not choose that the word impossible shall bepronounced in my house; I am too old now to begin to learn its meaning."

  The maitre-d'hotel bowed a third time.

  "This evening," said he, "I shall have taken leave of your grace, but,at least, up to the last moment, my duty shall have been performed as itshould be;" and he made two steps towards the door.

  "What do you call as it should be?" cried the marshal. "Learn, sir, thatto do it as it suits me is to do it as it should be. Now, I wish to dineat four, and it does not suit me, when I wish to dine at four, to beobliged to wait till five."

  "Your grace," replied the maitre-d'hotel, gravely, "I have served asbutler to his highness the Prince de Soubise, and as steward to hiseminence the Cardinal de Rohan. With the first, his majesty, the lateKing of France, dined once a year; with the second, the Emperor ofAustria dined once a month. I know, therefore, how a sovereign should betreated. When he visited the Prince de Soubise, Louis XV. called himselfin vain the Baron de Gonesse; at the house of M. de Rohan, the EmperorJoseph was announced as the Count de Packenstein; but he was none theless emperor. To-day, your grace also receives a guest, who vainly callshimself Count Haga--Count Haga is still King of Sweden. I shall leaveyour service this evening, but Count Haga will have been treated like aking."

  "But that," said the marshal, "is the very thing that I am tiring myselfto death in forbidding; Count Haga wishes to preserve his incognito asstrictly as possible. Well do I see through your absurd vanity; it isnot the crown that you honor, but yourself that you wish to glorify; Irepeat again, that I do not wish it imagined that I have a king here."

  "What, then, does your grace take me for? It is not that I wish it knownthat there is a king here."

  "Then in heaven's name do not be obstinate, but let us have dinner atfour."

  "But at four o'clock, your grace, what I am expecting will not havearrived."

  "What are you expecting? a fish, like M. Vatel?"

  "Does your grace wish that I should tell you?"

  "On my faith, I am curious."

  "Then, your grace, I wait for a bottle of wine."

  "A bottle of wine! Explain yourself, sir, the thing begins to interestme."

  "Listen then, your grace; his majesty the King of Sweden--I beg pardon,the Count Haga I should have said--drinks nothing but tokay."

  "Well, am I so poor as to have no tokay in my cellar? If so, I mustdismiss my butler."

  "Not so, your grace; on the contrary, you have about sixty bottles."

  "Well, do you think Count Haga will drink sixty bottles with hisdinner?"

  "No, your grace; but when Count Haga first visited France, when he wasonly prince royal, he dined with the late king, who had received twelvebottles of tokay from the Emperor of Austria. You are aware that thetokay of the finest vintages is reserved exclusively for the cellar ofthe emperor, and that kings themselves can only drink it when he pleasesto send it to them."

  "I know it."

  "Then, your grace, of these twelve bottles of which the prince royaldrank, only two remain. One is in the cellar of his majesty LouisXVI.----"

  "And the other?"

  "Ah, your grace!" said the maitre-d'hotel, with a triumphant smile, forhe felt that, after the long battle he had been fighting, the moment ofvictory was at hand, "the other one was stolen."

  "By whom, then?"

  "By one of my friends, the late king's butler, who was under greatobligations to me."

  "Oh! and so he gave it to you."

  "Certainly, your grace," said the maitre-d'hotel with pride.

  "And what did you do with it?"

  "I placed it carefully in my master's cellar."

  "Your master! And who was your master at that time?"

  "His eminence the Cardinal de Rohan."

  "Ah, mon Dieu! at Strasbourg?"

  "At Saverne."

  "And you have sent to seek this bottle for me
!" cried the old marshal.

  "For you, your grace," replied the maitre-d'hotel, in a tone whichplainly said, "ungrateful as you are."

  The Duke de Richelieu seized the hand of the old servant and cried, "Ibeg pardon; you are the king of maitres d'hotel."

  "And you would have dismissed me," he replied, with an indescribableshrug of his shoulders.

  "Oh, I will pay you one hundred pistoles for this bottle of wine."

  "And the expenses of its coming here will be another hundred; but youwill grant that it is worth it."

  "I will grant anything you please, and, to begin, from to-day I doubleyour salary."

  "I seek no reward, your grace; I have but done my duty."

  "And when will your courier arrive?"

  "Your grace may judge if I have lost time: on what day did I have myorders for the dinner?"

  "Why, three days ago, I believe."

  "It takes a courier, at his utmost speed, twenty-four hours to go, andthe same to return."

  "There still remain twenty-four hours," said the marshal; "how have theybeen employed?"

  "Alas, your grace, they were lost. The idea only came to me the dayafter I received the list of your guests. Now calculate the timenecessary for the negotiation, and you will perceive that in asking youto wait till five I am only doing what I am absolutely obliged to do."

  "The bottle is not yet arrived, then?"

  "No, your grace."

  "Ah, sir, if your colleague at Saverne be as devoted to the Prince deRohan as you are to me, and should refuse the bottle, as you would do inhis place----"

  "I? your grace----"

  "Yes; you would not, I suppose, have given away such a bottle, had itbelonged to me?"

  "I beg your pardon, humbly, your grace; but had a friend, having a kingto provide for, asked me for your best bottle of wine, he should havehad it immediately."

  "Oh!" said the marshal, with a grimace.

  "It is only by helping others that we can expect help in our own need,your grace."

  "Well, then, I suppose we may calculate that it will be given, but thereis still another risk--if the bottle should be broken?"

  "Oh! your grace, who would break a bottle of wine of that value?"

  "Well, I trust not; what time, then, do you expect your courier?"

  "At four o'clock precisely."

  "Then why not dine at four?" replied the marshal.

  "Your grace, the wine must rest for an hour; and had it not been for aninvention of my own, it would have required three days to recoveritself."

  Beaten at all points, the marshal gave way.

  "Besides," continued the old servant, "be sure, your grace, that yourguests will not arrive before half-past four."

  "And why not?"

  "Consider, your grace: to begin with M. de Launay; he comes from theBastile, and with the ice at present covering the streets of Paris----"

  "No; but he will leave after the prisoners' dinner, at twelve o'clock."

  "Pardon me, your grace, but the dinner hour at the Bastile has beenchanged since your grace was there; it is now one."

  "Sir, you are learned on all points; pray go on."

  "Madame Dubarry comes from the Luciennes, one continued descent, and inthis frost."

  "That would not prevent her being punctual, since she is no longer aduke's favorite; she plays the queen only among barons; but let me tellyou, sir, that I desire to have dinner early on account of M. de laPerouse, who sets off to-night, and would not wish to be late."

  "But, your grace, M. de la Perouse is with the king, discussinggeography and cosmography; he will not get away too early."

  "It is possible."

  "It is certain, your grace, and it will be the same with M. de Favras,who is with the Count de Provence, talking, no doubt, of the new play bythe Canon de Beaumarchais."

  "You mean the 'Marriage of Figaro'?"

  "Yes, your grace."

  "Why, you are quite literary also, it seems."

  "In my leisure moments I read, your grace."

  "We have, however, M. de Condorcet, who, being a geometrician, should atleast be punctual."

  "Yes; but he will be deep in some calculation, from which, when herouses himself, it will probably be at least half an hour too late. Asfor the Count Cagliostro, as he is a stranger, and not well acquaintedwith the customs of Versailles, he will, in all probability, make uswait for him."

  "Well," said the marshal, "you have disposed of all my guests, except M.de Taverney, in a manner worthy of Homer, or of my poor Raffe."

  The maitre-d'hotel bowed. "I have not," said he, "named M. de Taverney,because, being an old friend, he will probably be punctual."

  "Good; and where do we dine?"

  "In the great dining-room, your grace."

  "But we shall freeze there."

  "It has been warmed for three days, your grace; and I believe you willfind it perfectly comfortable."

  "Very well; but there is a clock striking! Why, it is half-past four!"cried the marshal.

  "Yes, your grace; and there is the courier entering the courtyard withmy bottle of tokay."

  "May I continue for another twenty years to be served in this manner!"said the marshal, turning again to his looking-glass, while themaitre-d'hotel ran down-stairs.

  "Twenty years!" said a laughing voice, interrupting the marshal in hissurvey of himself; "twenty years, my dear duke! I wish them you; butthen I shall be sixty--I shall be very old."

  "You, countess!" cried the marshal, "you are my first arrival, and, monDieu! you look as young and charming as ever."

  "Duke, I am frozen."

  "Come into the boudoir, then."

  "Oh! tete-a-tete, marshal?"

  "Not so," replied a somewhat broken voice.

  "Ah! Taverney!" said the marshal; and then whispering to the countess,"Plague take him for disturbing us!"

  Madame Dubarry laughed, and they all entered the adjoining room.

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