180 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
anonymous
letter, addressed to the Commune stated, that some of the stolen
objects were in a ditch in the Allee des Veuves, Champs-Elysdes.
Sergent at once proceeded with his colleagues to the spot, which had
been very carefully indicated. Here were found amongst other things the
famous " Regent" diamond, and the no less famous agate-onyx cup, known
by the name of the Abbe Suger's Chalice, which was afterwards placed in
the cabinet of antiques in the National Library.
"
Notwithstanding the investigations made at the time and subsequently,
it remained uncertain whether this robbery had a political object, or
whether it was simply the act of ordinary criminals, undertaken at a
time when the guardians of the public security were in a state of
complete disorganization. Some said that the proceeds of these
treasures were intended to maintain the army of the emigrants. Others,
on the contrary, pretended that Pethion and Manual had used them to
obtain the evacuation of Champagne by giving up the whole to the King
of Prussia. Some even went so far as to assert that the keepers
themselves had broken open the cabinets, and Sergent, of whom we have
above spoken, was nick-named Agate, in consequence of the
mysterious way in which he had found the agate-onyx cup. But none of
these more or less absurd surmises ever received any judicial
confirmation.
"Nevertheless,
therewas one circumstance of which I was witness, jointly with the
others present at the sitting of the special criminal court of Paris,
when Bourgeois and others accused of having forged notes
