Remark of Talleyrand.--The Cardinal de Rohan.--Rohan's smuggling operations.--He is disgraced.--The Countess Lamotte.--The queen's jewelry.--Boehmer, the crown jeweler.--The diamond ear-rings.--Change in the queen's life.--The diamond necklace.--The queen inspects the necklace.--Answer of their majesties.--Boehmer's embarrassment.--His interview with the queen.--The queen's remarks.--Boehmer's confusion.--Alleged disposal of the necklace.--Present to the king's son.--Boehmer's note to the queen.--The queen's perplexity.--Boehmer's interview with Madame Campan.--The necklace again.--The Cardinal de Rohan.--Indications of a plot.--Boehmer's perplexity.--The cardinal's embarrassment.--Boehmer's terror.--The queen's amazement.--The cardinal before the king and queen.--His agitation.--The queen's indignation.--The forged letter.--The cardinal's confused statements.--He is arrested.--Arrest of Madame Lamotte.--Great excitement.--The queen's anguish.--The cardinal's trial.--The cardinal's acquittal.--Chagrin of the king and queen.--Trial of the Countess Lamotte.--Her cool effrontery.--The countess found guilty.--Barbarous sentence.--Brutal punishment of the countess.--Her unhappy end.--Innocence of the queen.--Of de Rohan's criminality.--The three suppositions.--Influence of the first.--The third supposition.--Probably the true one. About this time there occurred an event which, though apparently trivial, involved consequences of the most momentous importance. It was merely the fraudulent purchase of a necklace, by a profligate woman, in the name of the queen. The circumstances were such as to throw all France into agitation, and Europe was full of the story. "Mind that miserable affair of the necklace," said Talleyrand; "I should be nowise surprised if it should overturn the French monarchy." To understand this mysterious occurrence, we must first allude to two very important characters implicated in the conspiracy.