How was the mystery to be cleared up?
The poisoned orange-flower water, and the sudden deaths of the
two prisoners, were facts difficult to reconcile with the no less
undeniable innocence of the three accused Jesuits. The whole
business was to me an incomprehensible mass of confusion, in
which incidents the most horrible were mingled. At last we
agreed that the best and only thing to be done was to consign
the affair to oblivion; but there were circumstances which did
not so easily depart from the recollection of my excellent friend,
the marechale de Mirepoix. "My dear soul," said she to me one
day, "have you ever inquired what became of the 100,000 livres
given to madame Lorimer? she had no time to employ them in any
way before her imprisonment in the Bastille. You ought to inquire
into what hands they have fallen."
I fully comprehended the drift of this question, which I put to
M. de Sartines the first time I saw him.
"Bless me," exclaimed he, "you remind me that these 100,000
livres have been lying in a drawer in my office. But I have such
a terrible memory."
"Happily," replied I, "I have a friend whose memory is as good
as yours seems defective upon such occasions. It will not be
wise to permit such a sum to remain uselessly in your office: at
the same time I need not point out that you, by your conduct in
the late affair, have by no means earned a right to them.
Pages:
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510