only to forward
to the Duchess d'Angouleme, but also promised to procure the honour of
a private interview for the bearer of the missive.

Larcher and Tourly must have been kept very busy, for the pretended
dauphin was never tired of sending appeals for assistance to the
foreign powers, of addressing proclamations to the people, and even
went so far as formally to petition the parliament that he might be
taken to Paris, in order there to establish his identity as the son of
Louis XVI. The whole of the papers issued from the prison, and they
were enormous in quantity, were signed by his secretaries with his
name.

About the same time considerable interest was excited by a trashy
novel, called the "Cemetery of the Madeleine," which pretended to give
a circumstantial account of the life of the dauphin in the Temple. Out
of this book the secretaries and their employer proceeded to construct
"The Historical Memoirs of Charles of Navarre;" but after they had
finished their work, they found that it was so ridiculously absurd
that there was no probability that it would deceive the public for a
moment. They accordingly handed the manuscript over to a more skilful
rogue with whom they were acquainted, and this man, who was called
Branzon, transformed their clumsy narrative into a well-written and
plausible history. He did more, and "coached" the pretender in all
the petty circumstances which he could find out respecting the Bourbon
family. Manuscript copies of the "Memoirs" were assiduously
distributed in influential quarters in Rouen, and particularly among
the officers of the third regiment of the royal guard, then quartered
in the town. A copy fell into the hands of a Vendean officer named De
la Pomeliere, who recollected the story of the pretended son of Baron
de Vezins, and half-suspected a similar imposture in this instance.
With some difficulty he procured admission to the royal presence, and
induced the sham dauphin to speak of La Vendee. During the
conversation he remarked, that when the chateau of Angrie, the
residence of the Viscountess de Turpin, was mentioned, the pretender
slightly changed colour and became embarrassed. The acknowledgment
that he was acquainted with the mansion, and the accurate description
which he gave of it, gave the first clue whereby proof was obtained of
his identity with Maturin Bruneau.

But although M. de la Pomeliere, from his previous knowledge, had a
hazy idea of the truth, the unin