The same woman who had given information of the sending away of the dressing-case was also deputed by the Queen to take care of her more private rooms.  No other servant was permitted to enter them; she renewed the flowers, swept the carpets, etc.  The Queen received back the key, when the woman had finished putting them in order, from her own hands; but, desirous of doing her duty well, and sometimes having the key in her possession for a few minutes only, she had probably on that account ordered one without the Queen’s knowledge.  It is impossible not to believe this, since the despatch of the diamonds was the subject of a second accusation which the Queen heard of after the return from Varennes.  She made a formal declaration that her Majesty, with the assistance of Madame Campan, had packed up all her jewelry some time before the departure; that she was certain of it, as she had found the diamonds, and the cotton which served to wrap them, scattered upon the sofa in the Queen’s closet in the ‘entresol’; and most assuredly she could only have seen these preparations in the interval between seven in the evening and seven in the morning.  The Queen having met me next day at the time appointed, the box was handed over to Leonard, her Majesty’s hairdresser,—­[This unfortunate man, after having emigrated for some time, returned to France, and perished upon the scaffold.—­Note by editor]—­who left the country with the Duc de Choiseul.  The box remained a long time at Brussels, and at length got into the hands of Madame la Duchesse d’Angouleme, being delivered to her by the Emperor on her arrival at Vienna.

In order not to leave out any of the Queen’s diamonds, I requested the first tirewoman to give me the body of the full dress, and all the assortment which served for the stomacher of the full dress on days of state, articles which always remained at the wardrobe.

The superintendent and the dame d’honneur being absent, the first tirewoman required me to sign a receipt, the terms of which she dictated, and which acquitted her of all responsibility for these diamonds.  She had the prudence to burn this document on the 10th of August, 1792.—­[The date of the sack of the Tuileries and slaughter of the Swiss Guard]—­The Queen having determined, upon the arrest at Varennes, not to have her diamonds brought back to France, was often anxious about them during the year which elapsed between that period and the 10th of August, and dreaded above all things that such a secret should be discovered.

In consequence of a decree of the Assembly, which deprived the King of the custody of the Crown diamonds, the Queen had at this time already given up those which she generally used.