"Was he long ill?"
"He was ill for nine months after the establishment of the commune. Dr.
Dessault prescribed several drops of a mixture which he was to take
every morning, and three consecutive times the child vomited the
medicine, and asked if it were not injurious. In order to reassure
him, Dr. Dessault took the cup and drank some of it before him, when he
said, 'Very good. You have said that I ought to take this liquid, and
I will take it;' and he swallowed it. Dr. Dessault attended him for
eight days, and every morning drank some of the medicine to reassure
the Child. When Dessault died suddenly from an apoplectic stroke, M.
Pellatan took his place and continued the same treatment. At the end
of three months the poor child died resting on my left arm."
"Was it easy to approach the child?"
"No, sir; it was necessary to pass through the courts of the Temple.
The applicant then knocked at a wicket. I answered the summons; and if
I recognised the person I opened the wicket. Then the visitor was
taken to the third floor, where the prince was."
"Did he show much intelligence?"
"Yes, sir, he was very intelligent. Every day I walked with him on the
top of the Tower, holding him under the arm. He had a tumour at his
knee, which gave him a great deal of pain."
"But it is said that another child was substituted for him, and that
the real dauphin was smuggled out of the Tower?"
"That is a false idea. I used to be a captain of the French Gardes in
the old days, and in that capacity I often saw the young dauphin. I
have attended him in the Jardin des Feuillants, and I am convinced
that the child who was under my care was the same. I was condemned to
death; but the events of the 9th Thermidor saved my life. I was
condemned, at the instigation of Saint-Just, who caused me to be
arrested by eight gens d'armes. I solemnly declare that the child who
died in my arms was in reality Louis XVII."
"That he was undoubtedly the same child?"
"Undoubtedly the same child, with the same features and the same
figure."
More than one impostor has tripped, stumbled, and fallen over that
declaration.
But notwithstanding Lasné's evidence, on the second morning of the
trial a printed sheet was circulated among the audience, which is a
curiosity in its way. This document, which was addressed to the jury,
was signed "Charles-Louis, Duke of Normandy," and was a sort of
protest in favour of Louis XVII., who pretended to have nothing in
common with the sham Baron Richemont. It asserted that "the secret
mover of the puppet Richemont could not be unaware the real son of the
unfortunate Louis XVI. was furnished with the requisite proofs of his
origin, and that he could prove by indisputable evidence his own
identity with the dauphin of the Temple. It was perfectly well known
that every time the royal orphan sought to make himself known to his
family, a sham Louis XVII. was immediately brought forward--an
impostor like the person the jury was called upon to judge--and by
this manoeuvre public opinion was changed, and the voice of the real
son of Louis XVI. was silenced." At the opening of the court an
advocate appeared on behalf of this second pretender; but after a
short discussion was refused a hearing.
As far as Richemont was concerned, all his audacity could not save
him; from the beginning the evidence was dead against him; there was
no difficulty in tracing his infamous career, the public prosecutor
was merciless in his denunciation, and in his demand that a severe
sentence should be passed upon this new disturber of the state, and
Richemont's own eloquence availed him nothing. The prisoner was,
however, bold enough, and in addressing the jury, said--"The public
prosecutor has told you that I cannot be the son of Louis XVI. Has he
told you who I am? He has been formally asked, and has kept silence.
Gentlemen, you will appreciate that silence, and will also appreciate
the reasons which prevent us from producing our titles. This is
neither the place nor the moment. The competent tribunals will be
called upon to give their decision in this matter. He tells you also
that inquiries have been made everywhere; but he has not let you know
the result of these inquiries. He cannot do it!... I repeat to you
that if I am mistaken, I am thoroughly honest in my mistake. It has
lasted for fifty years, and I fear I shall carry it with me to my
tomb."
The jury were perfectly indifferent to his appeal, and found him
guilty of a plot to upset the government of the king, of exciting the
people to civil war, of attempting to change the order of succession
to the throne, and of three minor offences in addition. The
Advocate-General pressed for the heaviest penalty which the law
allowed, and the judge condemned "Henri-Hebert-Ethelbert-Louis-Hector,"
calling himself Baron de Richemont, to twelve years' imprisonment.
Richemont listened to his sentence unmoved, and as the officers were
about to take him away, said in a low voice to those near him, "The
man who does not know how to suffer is unworthy of persecution!"