d to keep aloof from the intrigues of the ministers. She may
have been instrumental in the downfall of Necker--at least, she
secured the appointment, as minister of finance, of the worthless
Calonne, who, it will be remembered, brought about the ruin of
France in a short period. In time, however, the queen recognized his
worthlessness and would have nothing to do with him, thus making in
him another implacable enemy.

Events were fast diminishing the popularity of the queen. When, after
the long-disputed question of presenting the _Marriage of Figaro_, she
herself undertook to play in _The Barber of Seville_ in her theatre
at the Trianon, she overstepped the bounds of propriety. Then followed
the affair of the diamond necklace, in which the worst, most cunning,
and most notorious rogues abused the name of the queen. That was the
great adventure of the eighteenth century. Boehmer, the court jeweler,
had, in a number of years, procured a collection of stones for an
incomparable necklace. This was intended for Mme. du Barry, but
Boehmer offered it to the queen, who refused to purchase it, and he
considered himself ruined. It may be well to add that the queen had
previously purchased a pair of diamond earrings which had been ordered
by Louis XV. for his mistress; for those ornaments she paid almost
half her annual pin money, amounting to nine hundred thousand francs.
The jeweler, therefore, had good reason to hope that she would relieve
him of the necklace.

An adventuress, a Mme. de La Motte, acquainted at court and also with
the Prince Louis de Rohan, who had incurred the displeasure of the
queen, informed the cardinal that Marie Antoinette was willing to
again extend to him her favor. She counterfeited notes, and even went
so far as to appoint a meeting at midnight in the park at Versailles.
The supposed queen who appeared was no other than an English girl,
who dropped a rose with the words: "You know what that means." The
cardinal was informed that the queen desired to buy the necklace, but
that it was to be kept secret--it was to be purchased for her by a
great noble, who was to remain unknown. All necessary papers were
signed, and the necklace turned over to the Prince de Rohan, who, in
turn, intrusted it to Mme. de La Motte to be given to the queen; but
the agent was not long in having it taken apart, and soon her husband
was selling diamonds in great quantities to English jewelers.

In time, as no payments were r