"
The count made a threatening gesture, but his wife stopped him.
"Monsieur," she said, "if the man to whom you allude has the
slightest sense of honor---"
She stopped, intimidated by Floriani's cool manner.
"If that man has the slightest sense of honor," he repeated.
She felt that she would not gain anything by speaking to him in
that manner, and in spite of her anger and indignation, trembling
as she was from humiliated pride, she said to him, almost politely:
"Monsieur, the legend says that Retaux de Villette, when in
possession of the Queen's Necklace, did not disfigure the mounting.
He understood that the diamonds were simply the ornament, the
accessory, and that the mounting was the essential work, the
creation of the artist, and he respected it accordingly. Do you
think that this man had the same feeling?"
"I have no doubt that the mounting still exists. The child
respected it."
"Well, monsieur, if you should happen to meet him, will you tell
him that he unjustly keeps possession of a relic that is the
property and pride of a certain family, and that, although the
stones have been removed, the Queen's necklace still belongs to the
house of Dreux-Soubise.
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