In the Prince's absence the merchant was received by a confidential groom of the chambers, John of Paris by name, and by him, with the aid of a third John, a soldier of his Excellency's guard, called Jean de la Vigne, murdered on the spot.

The deed was done in the Prince's private study.
The unfortunate jeweller was shot, and to make sure was strangled with the blue riband of the Order of the Garter recently conferred upon Maurice, and which happened to be lying conspicuously in the room.
The ruffians had barely time to take possession of the booty, to thrust the body behind the tapestry of the chamber, and to remove the more startling evidences of the crime, when the Prince arrived.

He supped soon afterwards in the same room, the murdered jeweller still lying behind the arras.

In the night the valet and soldier carried the corpse away from the room, down the stairs, and through the great courtyard, where, strange to say, no sentinels were on duty, and threw it into an ashpit.
A deed so bloody, audacious, and stupid was of course soon discovered and the murderers arrested and executed.

Nothing would remove the incident from the catalogue of vulgar crimes, or even entitle it to a place in history save a single circumstance.