Part 46 (2/2)

Some Gardes Francais were called within the barrier of the parterre in order to restrain the disturbers Suddenly a very lively quarrel broke out in the centre Two young reat excitement had come to blows, and soonthe their quarrel on the field

Was it my name, or a contest as to the talent of the actress, which caused this commotion? My nephew, De Mortemart, was concerned for me, and the Coles were solely with regard to the wife of Theseus

Between the two pieces our coentleuard, out of uniforone out to have an explanation

The following day a religious minim of the House of Chaillot came to inform me of the state of affairs The Baron de Monclar, of the body-guards of the King, had taken sanctuary in theirkilled, in lawful duel, beneath the outer walls of the Bois du Boulogne, the iht before, at the play, had exposed me to the censure of the public M de Monclar was quite prepared for the inflexible severity of the King, as well as for the uselessness of uise of a cohbourhood of Gainville or Bordeaux, and land or Spain; every moment was precious

The sad position in which M de Monclar had put hih, and dried itated head for the reply I ought to reat astonishested and offered me no suitable plan This indecision, perhaps, rendered the worthy ambassador impatient and humiliated me; when, to end it, I made up my mind to request that M de Monclar be secretly transferred fro, where I should have time and all possible facilities to take concert with hi my eyes to the monk of Chaillot, I surprised in his a ferocious look of expectation This horrible discovery unnerved ave a cry of terror; all my lackeys rushed in I ordered the traitor to be seized and precipitated froardens His ar hirasp, threw hiuise was assumed with the intent to discover the sanctuary of the Baron de Monclar, the assassin of his beloved brother ”It is asserted, , ”that the Baron is confided to the Miniined that you were informed of it, and that by thishim”

”If he has killed the nobody who yesterday insulted me so unjustly,” I said then to this villain as ready for death, ”he has done a virtuous act, but one which I condemn I condemn it because of the law of the Prince, which is formal, and because of the dire peril into which he has run; for that norant of his offence; I aent of a faets what is due to me,--leave my house before et what one gains by putting on the livery of deceit in order to surprise and betray innocence”

My people conducted this unworthy ate, and refused to satisfy some prayers which he addressed to thereeable bonds The public, with its usual inconsequence, followed theas to whether it were abusing a vile spy or a man of worth

We waited for a whole uard At last he wrote to me from the island of Jersey, where he had been cast by a storm I despatched the son of my intendant, who knew him perfectly; I sent hiland, who had preserved ation, which I could not refrain from without cruelty, I added a present of a hundred thousand livres, which was enough to furnish an honourable condition for enerous cavalier in the land of exile

The hu an injury and alraven upon it in uneffaceable characters, and when (at the solicitation of the King of England) our monarch shall have pardoned M de Monclar, I will search all through Paris to find him a rich and lovely heiress, and will dower him myself, as his noble conduct and reat souls as ratitude and villainy

CHAPTER XL

Parallel between the Diamond and the Sun--Taste of the Marquise for Precious Stones--The King's Collection of Medals--The Crown of Agrippina--The duchess of York--Disappointment of the Marquise--To Lend Is Not to Give--The Crown Well Guarded--Fright of the Marquise--The Thief Recognised--The Marquise Lets Hi--The Difference between Cromwell and a Trunkmaker--Delicate Restitutions--The Bourbons of Madame de Montespan

The diamond is, beyond contradiction, the most beautiful creation of the hands of God, in the order of inanimate objects This precious stone, as durable as the sun, and far more accessible than that, shi+nes with the sale facet, and lavishes its charht and day, in every clime, at all seasons; whilst the sun appears only when it so pleases; so, sometimes misty, and shows itself off with innumerable pretensions

Frost all my brothers and sisters for my distinct fondness for precious stones and diamonds I have made a collection of them worthy of the Princes of Asia; and if my whole fortune were to failleft to e accident, shares this taste with e pedestals, veneered in rosewood, and divided within, like cabinets of coins, into several layers It is there that he has conveyed, one by one, all the finest diamonds of the Crown He consecrates to their exae, the brief moments that his affairs leave him

And when, by his ambassadors, he comes to discover some new apparition of this kind in Asia or Europe, he does all that is possible to distance his competitors

When he loved me with a tender love, I had only to wish and I obtained instantly all that could please me, in rare pearls, in superfine brilliants, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies One day, his Majesty allowed rippina, executed with ade brilliants handsomely mounted This precious object occupied me for several days in succession, and the more I exahtness and excellence, which was so great that our jewellers, corippina, were as artisans and workain of this ornament, I persuaded myself that he had made me a present of it,--a circumstance which confirht not to leave in its light case an article of such i and solid casket in which to enshrinebeen encased and its clasps well adjusted by as many little locks of steel, I shut the illustrious valuable in a cupboard in which I had a quantity of jewelry and precious stones This beautiful croas the constant object of hts, my affections andintervals, every sixthe cupidity of servants, and exposing the glory of Agrippina to soh France on her way to marry the Duke of York, whose first wife had left hi and lovely creature, daughter of a niece of Cardinal Mazarin

The conversation was uniforreeable, for she spoke French with fluency, and employed it it There was talk of open-work crowns and shut crowns The Marquis de Dangeau, so of a savant and antiquary, happened to renificent prince, the iht in the for said then: ”I was ignorant of that fact; but the crown of the Empress, his s to me is authentic; Madaracious invitation in dued to execute it I returned to the King in the space of a few itive present, which a race