presence of
his daughter was essential to his happiness--that he could not be
separated from her.

In 1680 Mademoiselle de Blois was married to the Prince de Conti,
nephew of the great Conde. It was as brilliant a marriage as exalted
rank, gorgeous dresses, superb diamonds, and courtly etiquette could
create. The king could not have honored the nuptials more had he been
giving a daughter of the queen to the proudest monarch in Europe. Her
princely dowry was the same as would have been conferred on such an
occasion. It amounted to five hundred thousand golden crowns. This was
the same sum which the Spanish monarchy assigned Maria Theresa upon
her marriage with the King of France.

It is difficult to imagine what must have been the emotions of Madame
de la Valliere when she heard, in her narrow cell, the details of the
brilliant nuptials of her child. Her loving heart must have
experienced conflicting sensations of joy and of anguish. Madame de la
Valliere had also a son, Count Vermandois. He became exceedingly
dissipated, so much so as to excite the severe displeasure of the
king. Rumor says that on one occasion he had the audacity to strike
the dauphin. The council condemned him to death. Louis XIV., through
paternal affection, commuted the punishment to imprisonment for life.
The report was spread that he had died of a contagious disease, while
he was privately conveyed to the prison of St. Marguerite, and
subsequently to the Bastile, his face being ever concealed under an
iron mask. Here he died, it is said, on the 19th of November, 1703,
after an imprisonment of between thirty and forty years. The true
explanation of this great historical mystery will probably now never
be ascertained.

The story of the "Man with the Iron Mask" is one of the most
remarkable in the annals of the past. Probably no information will
ever be obtained upon this subject more full than that which Voltaire
has given. He says that a prisoner was sent in great secrecy to the
chateau in the island of St. Marguerite; that he was young, tall, and
of remarkably graceful figure. His face was concealed by an iron mask,
with coils of steel so arranged that he could eat without its removal.
Orders were given to kill him instantly if he should announce who he
was. He remained at the chateau many years in close imprisonment.

In 1690, M. St. Mars, governor of the prison at St. Marguerite, was
transferred to the charge of the Bastile in Paris. The pr