“Oh, then it concerns a necklace?” said Beausire.
“Yes, did you not mean the same thing?”
“Perhaps.”
“Now he is going to be discreet after his former folly,” said the Portuguese; “but time presses, for the ambassador will arrive in eight days.”
“This matter becomes complicated,” said the banker; “a necklace! 1,500,000 francs! and an ambassador! Pray explain.”
“In a few words,” said the Portuguese; “MM. Bœhmer and Bossange offered to the queen a necklace worth that sum. She refused it, and now they do not know what to do with it, for none but a royal fortune could buy it. Well, I have found the royal personage who will buy this necklace, and obtain the custody of it from MM. Bœhmer and Bossange; and that is my gracious sovereign the Queen of Portugal.”
“We understand it less than ever,” said the associates.
“And I not at all,” thought Beausire; then he said aloud, “Explain yourself clearly, dear M. Manoël; our private differences should give place to the public interests. I acknowledge you the author of the idea, and renounce all right to its paternity. Therefore speak on.”
“Willingly,” said Manoël, drinking a second glass of Orgeat; “the embassy is vacant just now; the new ambassador, M. de Souza, will not arrive for a week. Well, he may arrive sooner.”
They all looked stupefied but Beausire, who said, “Do you not see some ambassador, whether true or false?”