opinion.

It MAY be true, in part. Mattioli MAY have been the prisoner who
died in the Bastille in November 1703, but the legend of the Mask's
prison life undeniably arose out of the adventure of our valet,
Martin or Eustache Dauger.



2. THE VALET'S HISTORY



After reading the arguments of the advocates of Mattioli, I could
not but perceive that, whatever captive died, masked, at the
Bastille in 1703, the valet Dauger was the real source of most of
the legends about the Man in the Iron Mask. A study of M. Lair's
book 'Nicholas Foucquet' (1890) confirmed this opinion. I therefore
pushed the inquiry into a source neglected by the French historians,
namely, the correspondence of the English ambassadors, agents, and
statesmen for the years 1668, 1669.* One result is to confirm a
wild theory of my own to the effect that the Man in the Iron Mask
(if Dauger were he) may have been as great a mystery to himself as
to historical inquirers. He may not have known WHAT he was
imprisoned for doing! More important is the probable conclusion
that the long and mysterious captivity of Eustache Dauger, and of
another perfectly harmless valet and victim, was the mere automatic
result of the 'red tape' of the old French absolute monarchy. These
wretches were caught in the toils of the system, and suffered to no
purpose, for no crime. The two men, at least Dauger, were