"That is the very thing I ask.They could be sold, then?""All your jewels could be sold, madame.It is well known that you possess the most beautiful jewels in Paris.You are not changeable in your tastes; when you make a purchase it is of the very best; and what you purchase you do not part with.""What could these emeralds be sold for, then?""A hundred and thirty thousand francs."
The marquise wrote down upon her tablets the amount which the jeweler mentioned."The ruby necklace?" she said.
"Are they balas-rubies, madame?"
"Here they are."
"They are beautiful -- magnificent.I did not know that your ladyship had these stones.""What is their value?"
"Two hundred thousand francs.The center one is alone worth a hundred thousand.""I thought so," said the marquise."As for diamonds, I have them in numbers; rings, necklaces, sprigs, earrings, clasps.
Tell me their value, M.Faucheux."
The jeweler took his magnifying-glass and scales, weighed and inspected them, and silently made his calculations.
"These stones," he said, "must have cost your ladyship an income of forty thousand francs.""You value them at eight hundred thousand francs?""Nearly so."
"It is about what I imagined ---but the settings are not included?""No, madame; but if I were called upon to sell or to buy, Ishould be satisfied with the gold of the settings alone as my profit upon the transaction.I should make a good twenty-five thousand francs.""An agreeable sum."
"Very much so, madame."
"Will you accept that profit, then, on condition of converting the jewels into money?""But you do not intend to sell your diamonds, I suppose, madame?" exclaimed the bewildered jeweler.
"Silence, M.Faucheux, do not disturb yourself about that;give me an answer simply.You are an honorable man, with whom my family has dealt for thirty years; you knew my father and mother, whom your own father and mother served.Iaddress you as a friend; will you accept the gold of the settings in return for a sum of ready money to be placed in my hands?""Eight hundred thousand francs! it is enormous.""I know it."
"Impossible to find."
"Not so."
"But reflect, madame, upon the effect which will be produced by the sale of your jewels.""No one need know it.You can get sets of false jewels made for me, similar to the real.Do not answer a word; I insist upon it.Sell them separately, sell the stones only.""In that way it is easy.Monsieur is looking out for some sets of jewels as well as single stones for Madame's toilette.There will be a competition for them.I can easily dispose of six hundred thousand francs' worth to Monsieur.Iam certain yours are the most beautiful.""When can you do so?"
"In less than three days' time."
"Very well, the remainder you will dispose of among private individuals.For the present, make me out a contract of sale, payment to be made in four days.""I entreat you to reflect, madame; for if you force the sale, you will lose a hundred thousand francs.""If necessary, I will lose two hundred; I wish everything to be settled this evening.Do you accept?""I do, your ladyship.I will not conceal from you that Ishall make fifty thousand francs by the transaction.""So much the better for you.In what way shall I have the money?""Either in gold, or in bills of the bank of Lyons, payable at M.Colbert's.""I agree," said the marquise, eagerly; "return home and bring the sum in question in notes, as soon as possible.""Yes, madame, but for Heaven's sake ---- ""Not a word, M.Faucheux.By the by, I was forgetting the silver plate.What is the value of that which I have?""Fifty thousand francs, madame."
"That makes a million," said the marquise to herself."M.
Faucheux, you will take away with you both the gold and silver plate.I can assign, as a pretext, that I wish it remodelled on patterns more in accordance with my own taste.
Melt it down, and return me its value in money, at once.""It shall be done, your ladyship."
"You will be good enough to place the money in a chest, and direct one of your clerks to accompany the chest, and without my servants seeing him; and order him to wait for me in a carriage.""In Madame de Faucheux's carriage?" said the jeweler.
"If you will allow it, and I will call for it at your house.""Certainly, your ladyship."
"I will direct some of my servants to convey the plate to your house." The marquise rung."Let the small van be placed at M.Faucheux's disposal," she said.The jeweler bowed and left the house, directing that the van should follow him closely, saying aloud that the marquise was about to have her plate melted down in order to have other plate manufactured of a more modern style.Three hours afterwards she went to M.Faucheux's house and received from him eight hundred thousand francs in gold inclosed in a chest, which one of the clerks could hardly carry towards Madame Faucheux's carriage -- for Madame Faucheux kept her carriage.As the daughter of a president of accounts, she had brought a marriage portion of thirty thousand crowns to her husband, who was syndic of the goldsmiths.These thirty thousand crowns had become very fruitful during twenty years.The jeweler, though a millionaire, was a modest man.
He had purchased a substantial carriage, built in 1648, ten years after the king's birth.This carriage, or rather house upon wheels, excited the admiration of the whole quarter in which he resided -- it was covered with allegorical paintings, and clouds scattered over with stars.The marquise entered this somewhat extraordinary vehicle, sitting opposite the clerk, who endeavored to put his knees out of the way, afraid even of touching the marquise's dress.It was the clerk, too, who told the coachman, who was very proud of having a marquise to drive, to take the road to Saint-Mande.