How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair (53 page)

BOOK: How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair
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191
   
‘tide you over’
: op. cit., p.276.

191
   
‘made to offer them’
: op. cit., p.279.

191
   
‘Is it not true’ . . . ‘horrific’
: op. cit., pp. 277–8.

192
   
‘I did not know’
: op. cit., p.283.

192
   
‘What you suggest is fantasy’ . . . ‘with so many lies and horrors’
: op. cit., p.289.

193
   
‘boor of a Frenchman’
: quoted in ‘Vraisemblance et Motivation’ in
Figures II
by Gérard Genette, p.73. The discussion here draws on
Genette’s essay and ‘Prose Fiction: France’ by English Showalter in
The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism: Volume IV – The Eighteenth Century
, edited by H. B. Nisbet and Claude Rawson.

193
   
‘a privilege of reality’
: quoted in
Figures II
, Genette, p.74.

193
   
‘fawned upon, rewarded’
: quoted in ‘Prose Fiction: France’, Showalter, p.225.

194
   
‘most stringent safeguards’
: ‘Interrogation with Jeanne de La Motte’, Campardon, p.304.

194
   
‘madder and madder’
: op. cit., p.292.

194
   
‘of not recognising the queen’
: op. cit., p.290.

194
   
‘reality effect’
: see ‘The Reality Effect’ in
The Rustle of Language
by Roland Barthes, pp. 141–8.

195
   
‘was very dirty’
: ‘Interrogation with Jeanne de La Motte’, Campardon, p.288.

195
   
‘I’m very sorry’ . . . ‘such affairs’
: op. cit., p.296.

195
   
‘You are being’ . . . ‘could go awry’
: op. cit., p.301.

195
   
‘I am an old man’
: op. cit., p.321.

196
   
‘utterly extraordinary man’
: op. cit., p.313.

196
   
‘a meeting with the queen’
: op. cit., p.280.

196
   
‘Marie Antoinette de France’
: op. cit., p.302.

196
   
‘what they are worth’
: op. cit., p.307.

196
   
Loth, her traitorous . . . 50,000 écus cash
: op. cit., pp. 285–6; op. cit., p.321.

196
   
‘extraordinary’ . . . ‘exact truth’
: op. cit., p.318.

197–8
‘It was the second of August’ . . . ‘deny it’
: op. cit., pp. 326–7.

199
   
‘normal for a prince’s house’
: ‘Interrogation with Cagliostro’, Campardon, p.344.

200
   
‘fruit of her intrigues’
: ‘Interrogation with Rohan’, Campardon, p.270.

19. Cheek to Cheek, Toe to Toe

201
   
before an ecclesiastical court
: AAE CP Rome 902/104.

201
   
‘competent tribunal’
: Compte Rendu, p.52ff. The Compte Rendu, though clearly favourable to Rohan, gives an exhaustive account of the judges’ deliberations.

202
   
‘in his favour’
: BHVP MS691/134.

202
   
‘my good sense’
: BHVP MS691/192.

202
   
‘needs to employ’
: BHVP MS691/125–6.

202
   
‘proactive answers’
: ibid.

202
   
‘catechism’ . . . ‘led by impulse’
: ibid.

203
   
Montagne-au-Perche in Normandy
: on Georgel’s exile see Georgel, vol. 2, p.189ff and Hardy, 13 March 1786.

203
   
‘of me his prisoner’
: King James Bible, 2 Timothy, 1:8.

203
   
‘king in his own chapel’
: BHVP MS691/125–6.

203
   
‘my modest courage’
: BHVP MS691/201.

203–4
‘I ask you’ . . . ‘very weak head’
: AN X2B/1417/8/Bassenge.

204
   
‘them to declare’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.67.

204
   
The confrontations were
: the account of the confrontations derives in the main from the transcripts in the trial dossier in the Archives nationales. Jeanne’s confrontations with the witnesses are in X2B/1417/10 and with the accused in X2B/1417/86. Rohan’s confrontations with the witnesses are X2B/1417/84 and with Jeanne in X2B/1417/17.

205
   
handed over to Dupuis
:
Mémoires Secrets
, 20 March 1786.

205
   
‘hide her troubles’
: BHVP MS691/230.

205
   
‘of an innocent soul’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.186.

205
   
of Nicolas’s valet
: Mémoire Rohan, p.50.

205
   
She harangued . . . dress her forcibly
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.186ff;
Gazette de Leyde
, 14 April 1786; Hardy, 26 March 1786.

205
   
tears out of d’Oliva
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.187.

205–6
‘an honest woman’ . . . ‘of your intrigues’
: MGO II, p.15.

206
   
to her objections
: AN X2B/1417/10/Jeanne’s confrontation with Rosalie Brissault.

206
   
‘would be refuted’
: AN X2B/1417/17/44.

206
   
‘respond to his desires’
: AN X2B/1417/10/Jeanne’s confrontation with the baron de Planta.

206
   
‘absolutely false’
: ibid.

206
   
‘hidden behind smiles’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.188.

206
   
in ailing health
: Bastille: MS12457/67–8.

206
   
‘for my correspondence’
: BHVP MS691/26.

207
   
‘falsehood of my adversaries’
: BHVP MS691/221–4.

207
   
‘Were the letters’ . . . ‘believe they were’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with d’Oliva.

207
   
‘maintain what I said’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with Sainte-James.

207
   
‘make it fail’
: quoted in
The Diamond Necklace
, Funck-Brentano, pp. 337–8.

207
   
‘he will not be stubborn’
: BHVP MS691/197.

208
   
‘similar to Villette’s handwriting’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with Loth.

20. An Extraordinary Rendition

209
   
Geneva, a warm evening
: the account of Villette’s arrest derives from the ambassadorial reports in AAE CP Genève/95.

209
   
‘acts of libertinage’
: AAE CP Genève/95/394.

209
   
‘incapable of resting’ . . . ‘a lost man’
: AAE CP Genève/95/408.

210
   
‘establish trust’
: AAE CP Genève/95/405.

210
   
choked up confessions
: see AN X2B/1417/68/Quidor.

210
   
through the city
: Hardy, 3 April 1786.

210
   
as a witness
: see AN X2B/1417/68/Villette.

210
   
interrogation by Titon
: AN X2B/1417/20; BN JdF 2089/13.

210–11
‘Do you know’ . . . ‘moment of madness’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, p.363.

211–12
‘Do you recognise’ . . . ‘profit from it’
: op. cit., pp. 368–9.

212
   
the matter was possible
: AN X2B/1417/9/Recollement of Villette.

212
   
‘Did the cardinal’ . . . ‘in his position’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, p.375.

212
   
‘travelling to Italy’
: op. cit., p.380.

212
   
‘an opportunist’ . . . ‘compromise him’
: AN X2B/1417/14/ Confrontation between Cagliostro and Jeanne.

213
   
her own eye
: MJ II, p.87.

213
   
‘make things plausible’
: AN X2B/1417/86/8.

213
   
‘did so much good’
: AN X2B/1417/86/9.

213
   
‘one must speak the truth’
: BHVP MS691/265.

214
   
‘Maurepas and my family’
: quoted in
L’affaire du collier
by Evelyne Lever, p.246.

214
   
‘will be false again’
: AN X2B/1417/17/5.

214
   
‘on the spot’
: AN X2B/1417/86/35.

214
   
‘my only wrong’
: AN X2B/1417/17/5.

214
   
‘harmed her irreparably’
: AN X2B/1417/86/40.

215
   
‘It’s not’ . . . ‘is a falsehood’
: AN X2B/1417/86/25.

215
   
‘sale of the diamonds’
: quoted in
L’affaire du collier
, Lever, p.243.

215
   
‘the most cruel’ . . . ‘in my defence’
: AN X2B/1417/86/32.

215
   
‘cabal of the cardinal’ . . . ‘blacker crimes’
: AN X2B/1417/86/15.

216
   
‘absolve her husband’
: BHVP MS691/236.

216
   
‘You are right’ . . . ‘contempt for you’
: AN X2B/1417/86/46.

216
   
mask his handwriting
: AN X2B/1417/93.

216
   
‘and the signature’
: AN X2B/1417/92.

216
   
naked and drooling
: see
Despatches from Paris, 1784–1790
, edited by Oscar Browning, vol. 1, p.107.

216
   
‘and consulting him’
: AN X2B/1417/18/4.

217
   
‘I am obliged’ . . . ‘misunderstood’ . . . ‘I did not’ . . . ‘against me’
: AN X2B/1417/86/49.

217
   
‘me from telling’
: ibid.

217
   
‘to say that I was there’
: AN X2B/1417/18/3.

218
   
‘a married couple’
: AN X2B/1417/17/9.

218
   
‘their affairs’
: AN X2B/1417/17/23.

218
   
‘infernal audacity’
: AN X2B/1417/97/2.

218
   
‘whitened your face’
: AN X2B/1417/17/16.

218
   
‘with the queen’
: AN X2B/1417/17/11.

218
   
‘It is unbelievable’ . . . ‘lover of success’
: AN X2B/1417/17/13.

218–19
‘author of it’ . . . ‘was tricked’
: ibid.

219
   
‘to be found’
: AN X2B/1417/17/25.

219
   
‘In all of your testimony’ . . . ‘plan in motion’
: AN X2B/1417/97/4.

219–20
‘duty of man’ . . . ‘celestial discourse’
: BHVP MS691/240.

21. The Truth Will Out

221
   
‘that they met’
: AN X2B/1417/17/36.

221
   
‘such a meeting’
: AN X2B/1417/17/37.

221
   
‘misdeeds of Rohan’
: AN X2B/1417/17/38.

221
   
‘she has said’
: AN X2B/1417/17/36.

222
   
‘sustain her case’
: AN X2B/1417/17/42.

222
   
‘in this state’
: BHVP MS691/235.

222
   
‘and the signature’
: AN X2B/1417/17/56.

222
   
‘than for myself’
: AN X2B/1417/17/64.

223
   
‘its own neck’
: BHVP MS691/228.

223
   
‘certain details’
: Compte Rendu, p.101.

223
   
‘cause of his blindness’ . . . ‘legally established’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, pp. 383–8.

223
   
‘has been demonstrated’
: AN X2B/1417/86/55.

224
   
‘compromise the queen’
: AN X2B/1417/86/53.

224
   
‘you understand’ . . . ‘diminish them’
: AN X2B/1417/86/52.

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