secretary, 'disguised him, put a mask on him, and took him to Pignerol.'
He was not kept long in this fortress, as it was 'too near the Italian
frontier, and although he was carefully guarded it was feared that the
walls would speak'; so he was transferred to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite,
where he is at present in the custody of M. de Saint-Mars.

This theory, of which much was heard later, did not at first excite much
attention. What is certain is that the Duke of Mantua's secretary, by
name Matthioli, was arrested in 1679 through the agency of Abbe d'Estrade
and M. de Catinat, and taken with the utmost secrecy to Pignerol, where
he was imprisoned and placed in charge of M. de Saint-Mars. He must not,
however, be confounded with the Man in the Iron Mask.

Catinat says of Matthioli in a letter to Louvois "No one knows the name
of this knave."

Louvois writes to Saint-Mars: "I admire your patience in waiting for an
order to treat such a rogue as he deserves, when he treats you with
disrespect."

Saint-Mars replies to the minister: "I have charged Blainvilliers to show
him a cudgel and tell him that with its aid we can make the froward
meek."

Again Louvois writes: "The clothes of such people must be made to last
three or four years."

This cannot have been the nameless prisoner who was treated with such
consideration, before whom Louvois stood bare-headed, who was supplied
with fine linen and lace, and so on.