"'T is really miraculous," said the king. "But where did you find this superb diamond which glistens in the heart of the flower?"
"I did not find it, Sire," replied Cellini, with charming affability; "Madame d'Etampes furnished it to my pupil."
"I was not aware that you owned this diamond, madame; whence came it to your hands, pray?"
"Why, probably from the place where most diamonds come from, Sire; from the mines of Guzarate or Golconda."
"There is a long story connected with that diamond, Sire, and if your Majesty cares to hear it, I will tell it you. The diamond and I are old acquaintances, for this is the third time it has passed through my hands. In the first place, I set it in the tiara of our Holy Father, the Pope, where its effect was marvellous; then, by order of Clement VII., I mounted it upon a missal which his Holiness presented to the Emperor Charles V.; and as the Emperor desired to carry it constantly about him, as a resource doubtless in an emergency, I set the diamond, which is worth more than a million, in a ring, Sire. Hid not your Majesty observe it on the hand of your cousin, the Emperor?"
"Yes, I remember," cried the king; "yes, on the day of our first interview he had it on his finger. How comes the diamond in your possession, duchess!"
"Yes, tell us," cried Diane, whose eyes shone with joy, "how came it about that a diamond of that value passed from the Emperor's hands to yours?"
"If the question were put to you, madame," retorted Madame d'Etampes, "the answer would not be far to seek, assuming that you confess certain matters to any other than your confessor."
"You do not answer the king's question, madame," rejoined Diane.
"Yes," said François, "how comes the diamond in your possession?"