te,
and undertaken the duty himself; that he had seen the prisoner
distinctly, without his mask; that his face was white, that he was tall
and well proportioned, except that his ankles were too thick, and that
his hair was white, although he appeared to be still in the prime of
life. He passed the whole of the night in question pacing to and fro in
his room. Blainvilliers added that he was always dressed in brown, that
he had plenty of fine linen and books, that the governor and the other
officers always stood uncovered in his presence till he gave them leave
to cover and sit down, and that they often bore him company at table.

"In 1698 M. de Saint-Mars was promoted from the governorship of the
Iles Sainte-Marguerite to that of the Bastille. In moving thither,
accompanied by his prisoner, he made his estate of Palteau a
halting-place. The masked man arrived in a litter which preceded that of
M. de Saint-Mars, and several mounted men rode beside it. The peasants
were assembled to greet their liege lord. M. de Saint-Mars dined with
his prisoner, who sat with his back to the dining-room windows, which
looked out on the court. None of the peasants whom I have questioned
were able to see whether the man kept his mask on while eating, but they
all noticed that M. de Saint-Mars, who sat opposite to his charge, laid
two pistols beside his plate; that only one footman waited at table,
who went into the antechamber to change the plates and dishes, always
carefully closing the dining-room door behind him. When the prisoner
crossed the courtyard his face was covered with a black mask, but the
peasants could see his lips and teeth, and remarked that he was tall,
and had white hair. M. de Saint-Mars slept in a bed placed beside the
prisoner's. M. de Blainvilliers told me also that 'as soon as he was
dead, which happened in 1704, he was buried at Saint-Paul's,' and that
'the coffin was filled with substances which would rapidly consume
the body.' He added, 'I never heard that the masked man spoke with an
English accent.'"

Sainte-Foix proved the story related by M. de Blainvilliers to be little
worthy of belief, showing by a circumstance mentioned in the letter that
the imprisoned man could not be the Duc de Beaufort; witness the epigram
of Madame de Choisy, "M. de Beaufort longs to bite and can't," whereas
the peasants had seen the prisoner's teeth through his mask. It appeared
as if the theory of Sainte-Foix were going to stand, w