The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-11

be his, he thought, if he could make a diamond necklace that would be the most beautiful piece of jewelry in the world.
 So Boehmer sank all his savings and those of his faithful partner in buying the gems of which the wonderful neck lace was to be composed. It was fin- ished at last and peerless, as he had planned that it should be. and upon his treasure the honest man set a price of $400,0o0.
 It was when he tried to dispose of that necklace that Boehmer's troubles began. His idea had been that 1t might be bought by Mime. Dubarry. for whom Louis XIV. had had a fond ness, but by the time the necklace was finished a new reign had begun and Dubarry's star had set. The new King would have liked we'll enough to buy the necklace for his consort Marie Antoinette. but the royal lady herself forbade the purcnase, remarking tart ly that the family was poor, which was true.
 Boehmer was not disheartened, and he cheerfully moved on to the Court of Portugal, and tried to sell the neck lace to the young Infanta-who was about to be married, but without suc- cess. Then from royalty to royalty
  with his white elephant of 0 necklace, and nowhere could he find a customer rich enough to buy it. He returned to Versailles and, throwing himself at the feet of Marie Antoinette, related his woes and begged her either to buy the jewel or allow him to drown him. self in the Seine. To which the Queen replied that she was too poor to buy the gaud and that she had no author ity to prevent him from drowning him. self whenever he chose
 A Cardinals Hopeless Love.
 Boehmer did not avail himself of the royal permission to make with him. self. He lived on, probably fancying himself the most tantarized man on earth. But there was another man at no great distance who would have been glad to dispute his claim to that dis tinction. This was no less a parsonage than His Eminence Cardinal de Rohan, formerly Prince de Rohan, but ele- vated. through toadying to royalty, first to an Archbishopric. then to the Grand Almonership and finally to the dignity that now was his. As to his character, it is enough to quote Carlyle. who calls him "a debauched mortal whom to see Church Cardinal an inhabitant of Sa- turn might split with laughing!'
 His Eminence was hopelessly in love with Marie Antoinette. He had been in love with her when he was only a prince and she the dauphiness, but she had repelled him frigidly. After she became Queen he annoyed her so much that at last she forbade him ever again to enter her presence. Of course such treatment, far from smoth- ering the susceptible Cardinals pas sion. famed it into a white heat, and 1t was in this state that he met Boeh- mer.
 Came from the Gutter.
 The person who brought this meeting about must pose as the Becky Sharp of French history. Jeanne de Saint Remy de Valois de France. like the leading lady of Vanity Fair" began life pauper, pried her way into higher cir cles through shady practices, found husband who aided and abetted her operations, rose still higher and then fell with a crash.
 Jeanne de Valois was found running ragged in the streets by the Countess of Boulainvillers, who raised and edu- cated her and set her up as a milliner. The girl who was beauty, laid claim to royal blood, and apparently with good grounds, for when her case was laid before Louis XVI, he granted to her pension of about $50 a year. This, however, did not satisfy the young woman's ambitions. She laid claim also to estates in the country, and while there, making vain attempts to get them, met her affinity in q precious black-leg, in the person of the Count de la Motte. then serving in the army.
 The two were married and Jeanne lived in barracks for four years, when Monsieur left the service Presently they drifted to Vervailles where they lived for while in a garret, the Coun- tess being unable to persuade the King to raise her pension.
 Plot in Full Swing.
 Both Boehmer. the jeweller. and the Cardinal de Rohan were at Versailles, and 1t was the sight of them that sug- gested to the nimble wits of the Count ess the plot that helped to make so much history. The Cardinals passion was an old story to every one. and the scheming beauty had little difficulty in dropping into his Eminence's ear d hint that she had frequent interviews with the Queen. that she might take a