to Master Lewis the happy days of
the life of Marie Antoinette, which she spent here while the unseen
cloud of the Revolution was gathering, and the calm settled down on
Paris before the storm.

[Illustration: VERSAILLES.]

"We have seen the places where Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette lived
and were beheaded. What became of their children?" asked Frank Gray.

"The oldest son of Louis XVI. died at the beginning of the Revolution.
As it may give you a picture of the stormy times of the period, let me
tell you

THE STORY OF THE DAUPHIN.

"He was born at Versailles in 1785. He was a most affectionate child,
and was ardently attached to his mother. He used to sport about the
gardens of the palace; the very place where we are now was his
play-ground.

"He would sometimes rise early in the morning to gather flowers from
the gardens to lay on his mother's pillow.

"'Ah!' he would say, when weary of play, 'I have not earned the first
kiss from mother to-day.'

[Illustration: LITTLE TRIANON.]

[Illustration: THE DAUPHIN WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE ASSEMBLY.]

"The Revolution came and cast a shadow over Versailles, with all its
glory. The royal family was surrounded with enemies, and was in
constant terror, and the little dauphin was made unhappy by the sight
of his mother's tears.

"One day a serving-woman told him that if he would procure some favor
for her she would be happy as a queen.

"'As happy as a queen!' he answered: 'I know of one queen who does
nothing but weep.'

"The Revolutionists overthrew the Bastile and the throne, and the
members of the royal family were obliged to seek protection in the
National Assembly. They were then confined in an old French prison,
called the Temple.

"The king was tried by the Assembly, was condemned and executed. He
deeply loved the dauphin, and parted from him with bitter grief.

"After the king's death the dauphin was the principal solace of the
queen in her imprisonment. He was at last removed from the queen's
apartment by an order of the Committee of Public Safety. It is related
that when the guards came to take him away, his mother fought for him
until her strength was exhausted, and she fell senseless upon the
floor.

"After the execution of his mother he was given over to the care of a
brutal shoemaker, named Simon, who endeavored to cause his death
without committing palpable murder. He was ill-fed, beaten and abused,
and received the name of the 'She-w