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THE REGENT.
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pledging other jewels of the crown until the debt should be paid.
The
Regent feared to be blamed for expending so extravagant a sum as two
millions of money on a mere bauble; but the Duke instantly pointed out
to him that what was right in an individual was inexpedient in a king,
and what would be lavish extravagance in the one would in the other be
but due regard for the dignity of the crown and the glory of the
nation. In short says the courtier in his entertaining Memoirs,"I never
let Monsieur d'Orleans alone until I had obtained that he would
purchase this stone." To such successful issue was his importunity
brought. The financier Law did not let the great diamond pass through
his hands without leaving some very substantial token of its passage.
He seems to have received forty thousand dollars for his share in the
negotiation.
It is instructive to learn that the Regent's fear of being blamed for the purchase was en-
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