Marguerite Jeanne "Meg" Japy Steinheil, Baroness Abinger (16 April 1869 – 17 July 1954) was a French woman known for her many love affairs with important men.
She became a prominent figure in Parisian society, and her salon was frequented by men of eminence in French political and social circles, including Charles Gounod, Ferdinand de Lesseps, René Lalique, Jules Massenet, François Coppée, Émile Zola, and Pierre Loti.
Shortly afterward, Steinheil became Faure's mistress and was regularly ushered into the salon bleu in the private quarters of the presidential Élysée Palace.
Unverified legend has it that Steinheil was performing oral sex on him when he suffered a fatal stroke, his convulsed hands tangled in her hair.
This was not officially announced, but rumours started spreading immediately, although for several years it was believed that his partner at the time of his death was actress Cécile Sorel.
In her Mémoires, Steinheil records how she and her spouse received a mysterious German guest, who bought back from them each of the pearls of a collar given to her by Faure (le collier présidentiel, as it became known in the press) and who reclaimed a manuscript of the president's memoirs which he had entrusted to Marguerite.
Opponents of the government tried to make political capital of the affair, the anti-Semitic Libre Parole even charging her with having poisoned President Faure.