A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 251
to
certain instructions, but strange as it may seem she did not in the
least suspect who it was she was representing — so skillfully was it
all arranged by the astute Madame de la Motte who never let one tool
know what another was doing for fear of spoiling her web of iniquity.
The cardinal was totally ignorant of the imposture, and this although
he knew the Queen well; but the night was dark and Madame de la Motte
executed a sudden surprise by means of her husband, so that the pair
were separated before the superstitious Queen had occasion to use her
voice, the sound of which might have aroused the suspicions of even the
blinded cardinal.
In
possession of four hundred thousand dollars worth of diamonds, Madame
de la Motte's next difficulty was to sell them. This appeared to be
impossible in Paris, for when she commissioned her friend Villette to
sell a dozen or so, he was at once arrested as a suspicious person, and
anxious inquiries were made as to whether
