The assassin of the
rue Lafontaine had robbed Madame Renaud, wife of the director in
the penitentiary service, in a railway carriage on the Paris-Havre
line. Arsene Lupin restored to Madame Renaud the hand-bag that
contained her jewels, and gave a generous recompense to the two
detectives who had assisted him in making that dramatic arrest."
V. The Queen's Necklace
Two or three times each year, on occasions of unusual importance,
such as the balls at the Austrian Embassy or the soirees of Lady
Billingstone, the Countess de Dreux-Soubise wore upon her white
shoulders "The Queen's Necklace."
It was, indeed, the famous necklace, the legendary necklace that
Bohmer and Bassenge, court jewelers, had made for Madame Du Barry;
the veritable necklace that the Cardinal de Rohan-Soubise intended
to give to Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France; and the same that the
adventuress Jeanne de Valois, Countess de la Motte, had pulled to
pieces one evening in February, 1785, with the aid of her husband
and their accomplice, Retaux de Villette.
To tell the truth, the mounting alone was genuine. Retaux de
Villette had kept it, whilst the Count de la Motte and his wife
scattered to the four winds of heaven the beautiful stones so
carefully chosen by Bohmer.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118