said Madame de Maintenon, "therefore, that even if I
were to send for Cardillac, to find out, at least, for whom he had made
those ornaments, he would somehow evade coming, for fear that I should
give him an order; nothing will induce him to work for me. Yet he does
seem to have been rather less obstinate of late, for I hear he is
working more than ever, and allows his customers to take away their
jewelry at once, though he does so with deep annoyance, and turns away
his face when he hands them over."

Mademoiselle Scuderi, who was exceedingly anxious that the jewels which
came into her possession in such an extraordinary manner should be
restored to their owner as speedily as possible, thought that this
wondrous Rene Cardillac should be informed at once that no work was
required of him, but simply his opinion as to certain stones. The
Marquise agreed to this; he was sent for, and he came into the room in
a very brief space, almost as if he had been on the way when sent for.

When he saw Mademoiselle Scuderi, he appeared perplexed, like one
confronted with the unexpected, who, for the time, loses sight of the
calls of courtesy; he first of all made a profound reverence to her,
and then turned, in the second place, to the Marquise. Madame de
Maintenon impetuously asked him if the jewelled ornaments--to which
she pointed as they lay sparkling on the dark-green cover of the
table--were his workmanship. Cardillac scarcely glanced at them, and,
fixedly staring in her face, he hastily packed the necklace and
bracelets into their case, and shoved them away with some violence.
Then he said, with an evil smile gleaming on his red face, "The truth
is, Madame la Marquise, that one must know Rene Cardillac's handiwork
very little to suppose, even for a moment, that any other goldsmith in
the world made those. Of course, I made them." "Then," continued the
Marquise, "say whom you made them for." "For myself alone," he
answered. "You may think this strange," he continued, as they both
gazed at him with amazement, Madame de Maintenon incredulous, and
Mademoiselle Scuderi all anxiety as to how the matter was going to turn
out, "but I tell you the truth, Madame la Marquise. Merely for the sake
of the beauty of the work, I collected some of my finest stones
together, and worked for the enjoyment of so doing, more carefully and
diligently than usual. Those ornaments disappeared from my workshop a
short time since, in an incomprehensible