have escaped from the Temple, and to have been hurried to the north
coast disguised as a girl. There is evidence, which Monsieur
Colville is now patiently gathering from these slow-speaking people,
that the woman who was rescued with this child was not his mother.
And there are a hundred details known to the villagers here which go
to prove what we have always suspected to be the case, namely, that
Louis XVII. was rescued from the Temple by the daring and ingenuity
of a devoted few who so jealously guarded their secret that they
frustrated their own object; for they one and all must have perished
on the guillotine, or at the hands of some other assassin, without
divulging their knowledge, and in the confusion and horror of those
days the little Dauphin was lost to sight.

"There is a trinket--a locket--containing a miniature, which I am
assured is a portrait of Marie Antoinette. This locket is in the
possession of Dormer Colville, who suggests that we should refrain
from using violence to open it until this can be done in France in
the presence of suitable witnesses. A fall or some mishap has so
crushed the locket that it can only be opened by a jeweller provided
with suitable instruments. It has remained closed for nearly a
quarter of a century, but a reliable witness in whose possession it
has been since he, who was undoubtedly Louis XVII., died in his
arms, remembers the portrait, and has no doubt of its authenticity.
I have told you enough to make it clear to you that my search is at
last ended. What we require now is money to enable us to bring this
King of France to his own; to bring him, in the first place, to my
humble chateau of Gemosac, where he can lie hidden until all
arrangements are made. I leave it to you, my dear Albert, to
collect this preliminary sum."