ft arm."

"Was it easy to approach the child?"

"No, sir; it was necessary to pass through the courts of the Temple.
The applicant then knocked at a wicket. I answered the summons; and if
I recognised the person I opened the wicket. Then the visitor was
taken to the third floor, where the prince was."

"Did he show much intelligence?"

"Yes, sir, he was very intelligent. Every day I walked with him on the
top of the Tower, holding him under the arm. He had a tumour at his
knee, which gave him a great deal of pain."

"But it is said that another child was substituted for him, and that
the real dauphin was smuggled out of the Tower?"

"That is a false idea. I used to be a captain of the French Gardes in
the old days, and in that capacity I often saw the young dauphin. I
have attended him in the Jardin des Feuillants, and I am convinced
that the child who was under my care was the same. I was condemned to
death; but the events of the 9th Thermidor saved my life. I was
condemned, at the instigation of Saint-Just, who caused me to be
arrested by eight gens d'armes. I solemnly declare that the child who
died in my arms was in reality Louis XVII."

"That he was undoubtedly the same child?"

"Undoubtedly the same child, with the same features and the same
figure."

More than one impostor has tripped, stumbled, and fallen over that
declaration.

But notwithstanding Lasne's evidence, on the second morning of the
trial a printed sheet was circulated among the audience, which is a
curiosity in its way. This document, which was addressed to the jury,
was signed "Charles-Louis, Duke of Normandy," and was a sort of
protest in favour of Louis XVII., who pretended to have nothing in
common with the sham Baron Richemont. It asserted that "the secret
mover of the puppet Richemont could not be unaware the real son of the
unfortunate Louis XVI. was furnished with the requisite proofs of his
origin, and that he could prove by indisputable evidence his own
identity with the dauphin of the Temple. It was perfectly well known
that every time the royal orphan sought to make himself known to his
family, a sham Louis XVII. was immediately brought forward--an
impostor like the person the jury was called upon to judge--and by
this manoeuvre public opinion was changed, and the voice of the real
son of Louis XVI. was silenced." At the opening of the court an
advocate appeared on behalf of this second pretender; but after a
short discussi