Alexandre Dumas

“ Is it possible,” continued she, “that a gentleman, formerly renowned like you for his loyalty and honor, should become such an enemy as you have been to the reputation of a woman? What will my enemies do, if you set them the example of treason?”
“Treason!” stammered Charny.
“Yes, sir. Either you are a madman, and must be forcibly prevented from doing harm; or you are a traitor, and must be punished.”
“Oh, madame, do not call me a traitor! From the mouth of a king, such an accusation would precede death; from the mouth of a woman, it is dishonor. Queen, kill me, or spare me!” ”

“ Ah, Philippe! do not speak of him,” replied Andrée, bitterly. “A father should be a support to his children, or accept their support. But what does ours do? Could you confide a secret to M. de Taverney, or do you believe him capable of confiding in you? M. de Taverney is made to live alone in this world.”
“True, Andrée, but not to die alone.”
“Ah, Philippe! you take me for a daughter without feeling, but you know I am a fond sister; and to have been a good daughter, required only to have had a father; but everything seems to conspire to destroy in me every tender feeling. ”

“ Here I live like the herb or the flower, alone for myself. I entreat you to pardon me; this forgetfulness of the glorious vanities of the world is no crime. My confessor congratulates me on it every day.”
“Then you like the convent?”
“I embrace with pleasure a solitary life.”
“Nothing remains which attracts you back to the world?”
“Nothing!”
“Mon dieu!” thought the queen; “shall I fail? If nothing else will succeed, I must have recourse to entreaties; to beg her to accept M. de Charny—heavens, how unhappy I am!—Andrée,” she said, “what you say takes from me the hope I had conceived.” ”

“ The cheeks of the queen assumed once more that deadly paleness, which had many times that morning alternated with a burning red.
“Did you see me?” she asked.
“Yes, your majesty, at the moment when your mask unhappily fell off.”
Marie Antoinette clasped her hands.
“Monsieur,” said she, almost sobbing, “look at me well; are you sure of what you say?”
“Madame, your features are engraved in the hearts of your subjects; to see your majesty once is to see you forever.”
“But, monsieur,” said she, “I assure you I was not at the ball at the Opera.” ”

“ Is it to the queen, or the woman, that I shall address my accusation of dishonor and shame?”
“Monsieur de Charny,” cried the queen, growing pale, “if you do not leave this room, I must have you turned out by my guards!”
“But I will tell you first,” cried he, passionately, “why I call you an unworthy queen and woman! I have been in the park these three nights!”
Instead of seeing her tremble, as he believed she would on hearing these words, the queen rose, and, approaching him, said, “M. de Charny, your state excites my pity. Your hands tremble, you grow pale; you are suffering. ”

“ Charny shook his head.
“Madman!” cried she, “thus to accuse your queen—to dishonor thus an innocent woman! Do you believe me when I swear, by all I hold sacred, that I was not in the park on either of those days after four o’clock? Do you wish it to be proved by my women—by the king? No; he does not believe me.”
“I saw you,” replied he.
“Oh, I know!” she cried. “Did they not see me at the ball at the Opera, at Mesmer’s, scandalizing the crowd? You know it—you, who fought for me!” ”

“ Oh yes, I forget one brave man—a generous prince.”
“Prince, countess! who is it?”
“Monsieur the Cardinal de Rohan.”
“My enemy,” said the queen, smiling.
“Your enemy! Oh, madame!”
“It seems you are astonished that a queen should have an enemy. It is evident you have not lived at court.”
“But, madame, he adores you. The devotion of the cardinal equals his respect for you.”
“Oh, doubtless,” said the queen, with a hearty laugh; “that is why he is my enemy.”
Jeanne looked surprised.
“And you are his protégée,” continued the queen; “tell me all about it.” ”

“ Charny stood before her.
“Speak,” said the queen; “you appear troubled, sir.”
“How can I begin?” said Charny, thinking aloud; “how can I dare to accuse honor and majesty?”
“Sir!” cried Marie Antoinette, with a flaming look.
“And yet I should only say what I have seen.”
The queen rose. “Sir,” said she, “it is very early in the morning for me to think you intoxicated, but I can find no other solution for this conduct.”
Charny, unmoved, continued, “After all, what is a queen?—a woman. And am I not a man as well as a subject?” ”

“ It was tokay, from the imperial cellar.”
“It was like that with which my maître-d’hôtel will now have the honor to fill your glass,” replied Richelieu, bowing.
Count Haga raised his glass, and looked through it. The wine sparkled in the light like liquid rubies. “It is true,” said he; “marshal, I thank you.”
These words were uttered in a manner so noble, that the guests, as if by a common impulse, rose, and cried,—
“Long live the king!”
“Yes,” said Count Haga, “long live his majesty the King of France. What say you, M. de la Pérouse?” ”

“ Charny rose slowly, and bowed to the king, whose heart might almost have been seen to beat.
“Ah!” cried he, in a hoarse voice, “M. de Charny!”
The queen could not speak—she thought she was lost.
“M. de Charny,” repeated the king, “it is little honorable for a gentleman to be taken in the act of theft.”
“Of theft?” murmured Charny.
“Yes, sir, to kneel before the wife of another is a theft; and when this woman is a queen, his crime is called high treason!”
The count was about to speak, but the queen, ever impatient in her generosity, forestalled him. ”

“ Republican of America, I recall you to the love of the people, to the love of equality. You trample on the people to kiss the hands of a queen; I would throw down a queen to elevate a people. I do not disturb you in your adoration; leave me in peace at my work. You say to me, die, for you have offended the object of my worship; and I say to you, who combat mine, live, for I feel myself so strong in my principles, that neither you nor any one else can retard my progress for an instant.”
“Sir, you frighten me,” said Philippe; “you show me the danger in which our monarchy is.” ”

“ Countess, we were speaking of you—who protects you now?”
“You, madame,” replied Jeanne, boldly, “since you permit me to come and kiss your hand. Few people,” she continued, “dared to protect me when I was in obscurity; now that I have been seen with your majesty, every one will be anxious to do so.”
“Then,” said the queen, “no one has been either brave enough or corrupt enough to protect you for yourself?”
“I had first Madame de Boulainvilliers, a brave protector; then her husband, a corrupt one; but since my marriage no one. ”

“ M. de Sartines told me a short time since that with that sum we could build a ship of the line; and in truth, sire, the king has more need of a ship than the queen of a necklace.”
“Oh!” cried the king, joyfully, and with his eyes full of tears, “what you do is sublime. Thanks, Antoinette; you are a good wife!” and he threw his arms round her neck and kissed her. “Oh! how France will bless you,” continued he; “and it shall hear what you have done.”
The queen sighed.
“You regret,” said he: “it is not too late.”
“No, sire; shut this case, and return it to the jewelers.” ”

“ Mon Dieu! our fortunes are assured forever.”
“Monsieur, you cause me horror!” cried poor Philippe, hiding his face in his hands. And, indeed, he felt it, at hearing attributed to himself all the happiness of another. All the rumors that the father had heard, he had assigned to his son, and believed that it was he that the queen loved, and no one else; hence his perfect contentment and happiness.
“Yes,” he went on, “some said it was Rohan; others, that it was Charny; not one that it was Taverney. Oh, you have acted well.” ”

“ I come to beg you to do me a favor.”
“What danger?”
“Oh, madame! the cardinal paying for the queen dishonors her. I do not speak now of the grief such a confidence in him causes to me. No; of these things one dies, but does not complain.”
“You are mad!” cried Marie Antoinette, in anger.
“I am not mad, madame, but you are unhappy and lost. I saw you in the park—I told you so—I was not deceived. To-day all the horrible truth has burst out. M. de Rohan boasts, perhaps——”
The queen seized his arm. “You are mad,” repeated she, with inexpressible anguish. ”

“ Philippe approached the count in a menacing attitude, but he did not stir. “Sir,” said Philippe, “you appear a man of courage; I call upon you to give me immediate satisfaction.”
“Satisfaction for what?”
“For the insult to the queen, of which you render yourself an accomplice while you keep one number of this vile paper.”
“Monsieur,” said Cagliostro, “you are in error; I like novelties, scandalous reports, and other amusing things, and collect them, that I may remember at a later day what I should otherwise forget.”
“A man of honor, sir, does not collect infamies.” ”

“ Mistress of such a secret, rich in such a future, and supported by such a friend, Jeanne felt herself strong against the world. To appear at court, no longer as a suppliant, as the poor mendicant, drawn from poverty by Madame de Boulainvilliers, but as a Valois, with an income of 100,000 francs; to be called the favorite of the queen, and consequently governing the king and state through her.—Such was the panorama that floated before the eyes of Jeanne. ”

“ Here you might see a lady masked, doubtless on account of the cold, in some sledge of a quieter character, while a handsome skater, in a velvet riding-coat, hangs over the back, to assist and direct her progress; whatever they may be saying to each other is quite inaudible, amidst this busy hum of voices; but who can blame a rendezvous which takes place in the open air, and under the eyes of all Versailles? and whatever they may be saying matters to no one else: it is evident that in the midst of this crowd their life is an isolated one; they think only of each other. ”

“ Alas, madame, we all know that the most courageous are not always equally brave. He wanted but ten minutes to recover himself; my determination not to surrender gave him the breathing time, his natural courage returned to him, and he showed himself the bravest of us all. Therefore I beg your majesty not to exaggerate the merit of my action, and thereby crush this deserving officer, who deplores incessantly the failing of a few moments.”
“Right!” said the queen, touched by these generous words; “you are a true gentleman, M. de Charny, and such I already know you to be.” ”

“ I left Versailles in a sledge, because it is the quickest way of getting to Paris at present. I went with Madlle. de Taverney, whose reputation is certainly one of the purest in our court. I went to Paris, I repeat, to verify the fact that the King of France, the great upholder of morality—he who takes care of poor strangers, warms the beggars, and earns the gratitude of the people by his charities, leaves dying of hunger, exposed to every attack of vice and misery, one of his own family—one who is as much as himself a descendant of the kings who have reigned in France. ”

“ He began to fear that, after all, his sacrifice had been displeasing to the queen. His uneasiness became insupportable. He sent ten times in one day to Madame de la Motte: the tenth messenger brought Jeanne to him. On seeing her he cried out, “How! you live so tranquilly; you know my anxiety, and you, my friend, never come near me.”
“Oh, monseigneur, patience, I beg. I have been far more useful to you at Versailles than I could have been here.”
“Tell me,” replied he, “what does she say? Is she less cruel?”
“Absence is equal pain, whether borne at Versailles or at Paris.” ”

“ She who has dedicated herself to heaven the king cannot influence. “Sire!” she cried, “she whom M. de Charny wishes to marry is in a convent.”
“Oh! that is a difficulty; no doubt. But this seems a very sudden love of M. de Charny’s. I have never heard of it from any one. Who is the lady you love, M. de Charny?”
The queen felt in despair, not knowing what he would say, and dreading to hear him name any one. But Charny could not reply: so, after a pause, she cried, “Sire, you know her; it is Andrée de Taverney.” ”

“ I only ask you to believe.”
“I will believe all your majesty wishes me to believe,” cried he.
“Sister, sister, it is too much,” murmured the count.
“No one believes me!” cried she, throwing herself on the sofa, with tears in her eyes.
“Sister, pardon me,” said the count tenderly, “you are surrounded by devoted friends; this secret, which terrifies you so, we alone know. It is confined to our hearts, and no one shall drag it from us while we have life.”
“This secret! oh, I want nothing but to prove the truth.”
“Madame,” said Andrée, “some one approaches.”
The king was announced. ”

“ Ducorneau laughed. “You do not understand either a Portuguese or an ambassador, bourgeois that you are. I will tell you what they are: one ambassador, M. de Potemkin, bought every year for his queen, on the first of January, a basket of cherries which cost one hundred thousand crowns—one thousand francs a cherry. Well, M. de Souza will buy up the mines of Brazil till he finds a diamond as big as all yours put together. If it cost him twenty years of his income, what does he care?—he has no children.” ”

“ At the appointed time she went down and met Jeanne, who embraced her tenderly, and made her get into a carriage that waited a little way off; they remained out two hours, and parted with kisses and protestations of affection. Jeanne learned the name of Oliva’s protector; she feared this man, and determined to preserve the most perfect mystery as to her plans. Oliva had confided everything to her about Beausire, the police, and all. Jeanne gave herself out for a young lady of rank, living here secretly, without the knowledge of her friends. One knew all, the other nothing. ”

“ Philippe made an effort to shake off the torpor which still held possession of him, and murmured, “Oh, sir, do you call these the weapons of a gentleman?”
Cagliostro shrugged his shoulders. “You repeat forever the same word,” he said; “when we of the nobility have opened our mouths wide enough to utter the word gentleman, we think we have said everything. What do you call the weapons of a gentleman? Is it your sword, which served you so badly against me, or is it your gun, which served you so well against Gilbert? What makes some men superior to others? ”