He went home and told his assistant that this was not the Dauphin,
and that, whoever he might be, he was being poisoned. The
assistant's name was Choppart, and this Choppart made up a medicine,
on Desault's prescription, which was an antidote to poison."

Monsieur de Gemosac paused, and, turning to his companion, held up
one finger to command his full attention.

"Desault died, my friend, four days later, and Choppart died five
days after him, and the boy in the Temple died three days after
Choppart. And no one knows what they died of. They were pretty
bunglers, those gentlemen of the Republic! Of course, they called
in others in a hurry; men better suited to their purpose. And one
of these, the citizen Pelletan, has placed on record some
preposterous lies. These doctors certified that this was the
Dauphin. They had never seen him before, but what matter? Great
care was taken to identify the body. Persons of position, who had
never seen the son of Louis XVI., were invited to visit the Temple.
Several of them had the temerity to protect themselves in the
certificate. 'We saw what we were informed was the body of the
Dauphin,' they said."

Again the old man turned, and held up his hand in a gesture of
warning.

"If they wanted a witness whose testimony was without question--
whose word would have laid the whole question in that lost and
forgotten grave for ever--they had one in the room above. For the
Dauphin's sister was there, Marie Therese Charlotte, she who is now
Duchess of Angouleme. Why did they not bring her down to see the