he municipal officers would tell
her nothing, and rudely refused her request to have a woman placed with
her. "I asked nothing but what seemed indispensable, though it was often
harshly refused," she says. "But I at least could keep myself clean. I
had soap and water, and carefully swept out my room every day. I had no
light, but in the long days I did not feel this privation much . . . .
I had some religious works and travels, which I had read over and over. I
had also some knitting, 'qui m'ennuyait beaucoup'." Once, she believes,
Robespierre visited her prison:

[It has been said that Robespierre vainly tried to obtain the hand of
Mademoiselle d'Orleans. It was also rumoured that Madame Royale herself
owed her life to his matrimonial ambition.]

"The officers showed him great respect; the people in the Tower did not
know him, or at least would not tell me who he was. He stared insolently
at me, glanced at my books, and, after joining the municipal officers in a
search, retired."

[On another occasion "three men in scarfs," who entered the Princess's
room, told her that they did not see why she should wish to be released,
as she seemed very comfortable! "It is dreadful,' I replied, 'to be
separated for more than a year from one's mother, without even hearing
what has become of her or of my aunt.'--'You are not ill?'--'No, monsieur,
but the cruellest illness is that of the heart'--' We can do nothing for
you. Be patient, and submit to the justice and goodness of the French
people: I had nothing more to say."--DUCHESSE D'ANGOULEME, "Royal
Memoirs," p. 273.]

When Laurent was appointed by the Convention to the charge of the young
prisoners, Madame Royale was treated with more consideration. "He was
always courteous," she says; he restored her tinderbox, gave her fresh
books, and allowed her candles and as much firewood as she wanted, "which
pleased me greatly." This simple expression of relief gives a clearer
idea of what the delicate girl must have suffered than a volume of
complaints.

But however hard Madame Royale's lot might be, that of the Dauphin was
infinitely harder. Though only eight years old when he entered the
Temple, he was by nature and education extremely precocious; "his memory
retained everything, and his sensitiveness comprehended everything." His
features "recalled the somewhat effeminate look of Louis XV., and the
Austrian hauteur of Maria Theresa; his blue eyes, aquiline nose, el