242 A FAMOUS NECKLACE.
Who would buy it ?
Not
the young queen Marie Antoinette, who when offered it answered that
being on the eve of war with England they needed frigates more than
diamonds. Besides she had just bought, and not yet been able to pay
for, two expensive diamond ear-rings.
This
disappointed jeweler traveled all through Europe offering his trinket
to the different queens and princesses, but none were rich enough to
tie four hundred thousand dollars in a glittering string around their
necks, so he returned to Paris with bankruptcy staring him in the face.
In
1781, when Marie Antoinette's first son was born, the jeweler very
nearly succeeded in selling it to Louis xvi., who wanted to make his
wife a fine present upon so auspicious an occasion. The Queen,
however, refused to touch the jewel when the king handed it to her as
she lay in bed, and being very weak and ill, so that the least thing
excited her dangerously, the doctor forbade mention to be made of this
truly
