ied for by persons of undoubted
integrity. They called in, at the last moment, Desault, a great doctor
of that day. But Desault was, unfortunately, honest. He went home and
told his assistant that this was not the Dauphin, and that, whoever he
might be, he was being poisoned. The assistant's name was Choppart, and
this Choppart made up a medicine, on Desault's prescription, which was
an antidote to poison."

Monsieur de Gemosac paused, and, turning to his companion, held up one
finger to command his full attention.

"Desault died, my friend, four days later, and Choppart died five days
after him, and the boy in the Temple died three days after Choppart.
And no one knows what they died of. They were pretty bunglers, those
gentlemen of the Republic! Of course, they called in others in a hurry;
men better suited to their purpose. And one of these, the citizen
Pelletan, has placed on record some preposterous lies. These doctors
certified that this was the Dauphin. They had never seen him before,
but what matter? Great care was taken to identify the body. Persons
of position, who had never seen the son of Louis XVI., were invited to
visit the Temple. Several of them had the temerity to protect themselves
in the certificate. 'We saw what we were informed was the body of the
Dauphin,' they said."

Again the old man turned, and held up his hand in a gesture of warning.

"If they wanted a witness whose testimony was without question--whose
word would have laid the whole question in that lost and forgotten grave
for ever--they had one in the room above. For the Dauphin's sister was
there, Marie Therese Charlotte, she who is now Duchess of Angouleme. Why
did they not bring her down to see the body, to testify that her brother
was dead and the line of Louis XVI. ended? Was it chivalry? I ask you if
these had shown chivalry to Madame de Lamballe? to Madame Elizabeth?
to Marie Antoinette? Was it kindness toward a child of unparalleled
misfortune? I ask you if they had been kind to those whom they called
the children of the tyrant? No! They did not conduct her to that
bedside, because he who lay there was not her brother. Are we children,
Monsieur, to be deceived by a tale of a sudden softness of heart?
They wished to spare this child the pain! Had they ever spared any one
pain--the National Assembly?"

And the Marquis de Gemosac's laugh rang with a hatred which must, it
seems, outlive the possibility of revenge.

"There was to