THE QUEEN’S PORTFOLIO.
The cardinal was at home when Madame de la Motte came to his hotel. She
had herself announced, and was immediately admitted.
“You come from Versailles?” said he.
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“Well, monseigneur, what do you expect?”
“Ah, countess, you say that with an air that frightens me.”
“You wished me to see the queen, and I have seen her; and that I should
speak to her of you whom she has always so much disliked.”
“And you did?”
“Yes, and her majesty listened.”
“Say no more, countess, I see she will not overcome her repugnance.”
“Oh! as to that, I spoke of the necklace.”
“And did you dare to say that I wished——”
“To buy it for her? Yes.”
“Oh, countess, you are sublime; and she listened?”
“Yes, but she refused.”
“Oh, I am lost.”
“Refused to accept it as a gift, but not as a loan.”
“I lend to the queen! countess, it is impossible.”
“It is more than giving, is it not?”
“A thousand times.”
“So I thought.”
The cardinal rose and came towards her. “Do not deceive me,” he said.
“One does not play with the affections of a man like you, monseigneur.”
“Then it is true?”
“The exact truth.”
“I have a secret with the queen!” and he pressed Jeanne’s hand.
“I like that clasp of the hand,” she said, “it is like one man to
another.”
“It is that of a happy man to a protecting angel.”
“Monseigneur, do not exaggerate.”
“Oh, my joy! my gratitude! impossible.”
“But lending a million and a half to the queen is not all you wish for?
Buckingham would have asked for more.”
“Buckingham believed what I dare not even dream of.”
“The queen sends you word that she will see you with pleasure at
Versailles.”
The cardinal looked as pale as a youth who gives his first kiss of
love.
“Ah,” thought she, “it is still more serious than I imagined. I can get
what I please from him, for he acts really not from ambition but from
love.”
He quickly recovered himself, however: “My friend,” said he, “how does
the queen mean to act about this loan she talks of?”
“Ah, you think she has no money. But she will pay you as she would have
paid Bœhmer. Only if she had paid him all Paris must have known it,
which she would not have liked, after the credit she has had for her
refusal of it. You are a cashier for her, and a solvent one if she
becomes embarrassed. She is happy and she pays. Ask no more.”
“She pays?”
“Yes, she knows you have debts; and when I told her you had advanced
100,000 francs——”
“You told her?”
“Yes; why not?” Jeanne put her hand in her pocket, and drew out the
portfolio. “The queen sends you this with thanks; it is all right, for
I have counted it.”
“Who cares for that? But the portfolio?”
“Well, it is not handsome.”
“It pleases me, nevertheless.”
“You have good taste.”
“Ah, you quiz me.”
“You have the same taste as the queen, at all events.”
“Then it was hers?”
“Do you wish for it?”
“I cannot deprive you of it.”
“Take it.”
“Oh, countess, you are a precious friend; but while you have worked for
me, I have not forgotten you.”
Jeanne looked surprised.
“Yes,” said he, “my banker came to propose to me some plan of a marsh
to drain, which must be profitable. I took two hundred shares, and
fifty of them are for you.”
“Oh, monseigneur!”
“He soon returned, he had realized already on them cent. per cent. He
gave me 100,000 francs, and here is your share, dear countess;” and
from the pocket-book she had just given him he slid 25,000 francs into
her hand.
“Thanks, monseigneur. What gratifies me most is, that you thought of
me.”
“I shall ever do so,” said he, kissing her hand.
“And I of you, at Versailles.”