There is a tinge of haughtiness in her manner as she interrupts him.
“You do not appear to understand, Bohmer, that the matter does not at all concern me. I have done nothing,” she insists; then, melting into smiles, “My only desire,” she adds, “was to be of service to you.”
And upon that she departs, leaving them profoundly impressed by her graciousness and still more by her refusal to accept a valuable jewel.
On the morrow the great nobleman she had heralded, the Cardinal himself, alighted at the Grand Balcon, coming, on the Queen's behalf, to see the necklace and settle the terms. By the end of the week the bargain was concluded. The price was fixed at 1,600,000 livres, which the Queen was to pay in four instalments extending over two years, the first falling due on the following August 1st.
These terms the Cardinal embodied in a note which he forwarded to Madame de la Motte, that they might be ratified by the Queen.
The Countess returned the note to him next day.
“Her Majesty is pleased and grateful,” she announced, “and she approves of all that you have done. But she does not wish to sign anything.”
On that point, however, the Cardinal was insistent. The magnitude of the transaction demanded it, and he positively refused to move further without Her Majesty's signature.
The Countess departed to return again on the last day of the month with the document completed as the Cardinal required, bearing now the signature “Marie Antoinette de France,” and the terms marked “approved” in the Queen's hand.
“The Queen,” Madame de la Motte informed him, “is making this purchase secretly, without the King's knowledge, and she particularly begs that this note shall not leave Your Eminence's hands. Do not, therefore, allow any one to see it.”