"'And _I_ accept no favors but from my master; he is sufficiently great to recompense me if I have served him well.'
"'Monsieur, the Empress will think that you are taking a great liberty to refuse her favors.'
"'Monsieur, the only liberty which cannot be taken from a very respectful but cruelly outraged man is the liberty to refuse favors. For the rest, my master will decide whether I am right or wrong in this conduct, but as to my decision--it remains as I have said.'
"The same evening I left Vienna, and traveling day and night, I arrived the ninth day, hoping at last for an explanation. All that M. de Sartine has been willing to say to me is: '_Que voulez-vous?_ The Empress took you for an adventurer....'
"Sire, be so good as not to disapprove of my refusal to accept the money of the Empress, and permit me to return it to Vienna. I should, however, be willing to accept an honorable word, or her portrait, or any similar token which I could oppose to the reproach which is everywhere made me of having been arrested in Vienna as a suspicious character.... I await the orders of your Majesty.
The money was subsequently returned, and in its place a valuable diamond ring was sent by the Empress. This ring shone on its possessor's finger, from henceforth, on all occasions of ceremony. As for the suspicions of Kaunitz, which have been shared by many, we can do no more than refer the reader to the special literature on this subject. The story of the brigands is unquestionably an invention, as for proofs of forgery, or real guilt of any kind,--after the most exhaustive investigations, none has ever been found.
In his edition of the History of Beaumarchais, by Gudin, 1888, Maurice Tourneux in a lengthy note points out the fallacies in the story of this adventure as told by Gudin. After speaking of the most recent accusations against Beaumarchais, he says, "But it must be admitted, this is to venture upon a series of very serious as well as practically gratuitous accusations."
Lintilhac does not hesitate to assert that Angelucci did exist, and that not a line of the libel is from the pen of Beaumarchais. As this is the most recent study of the subject which has appeared, it attempts to answer all the arguments set forth by the adversaries of Beaumarchais, and through before unpublished documents, to prove the fallacy of all their conjectures. (See _Beaumarchais et ses oeuvres_, by E. Lintilhac, Paris, 1889.)