and his beautiful queen lost their lives ?" Mr.Dinsmore said, glancing about upon his grandchildren; "and have not forgotten that two children survived them--one sometimes called Louis XVII., as his father's lawful successor to the throne, and a daughter older than the boy.
"These children remained in the hands of their cruel foes for some time after the beheading of their royal parents.

The girl was finally restored to her mother's relatives, the royal family of Austria; but the boy, who was most inhumanly treated by his jailer, was supposed to have died in consequence of that brutal abuse, having first been reduced by it to a state of extreme bodily and mental weakness.
"That story (of the death of the poor little dauphin, I mean, not of the cruel treatment to which he was subjected) has, however, been contradicted by another; and I suppose it will never be made certain in this world which was the true account.
"The dauphin was born in 1785, his parents were beheaded in 1793; so that he must have been about eight years old at the time of their death.
"In 1795 a French man and woman, directly from France, appeared in Albany, New York, having in charge a girl and boy; the latter about nine years old, and feeble in body and mind.
"The woman had also a number of articles of dress which she said had belonged to Marie Antoinette, who had given them to her on the scaffold.
"That same year two Frenchmen came to Ticonderoga, visited the Indians in that vicinity, and placed with them such a boy as the one seen at Albany--of the same age, condition of mind and body, etc.
"He was adopted by an Iroquois chief named Williams, and given the name of Eleazer Williams.
"He gradually recovered his health, and at length the shock of a sudden fall into the lake so far restored his memory that he recollected some scenes in his early life in the palaces of France.

One thing he recalled was being with a richly dressed lady whom he addressed as 'mamma.' "Some time later--I cannot now recall the exact date--a Frenchman died in New Orleans (Beranger was his name), who confessed on his death-bed that he had brought the dauphin to this country and placed him with the Indians of Northern New York.

He stated that he had taken an oath of secrecy, for the protection of the lad, but could not die without confessing the truth." "I'm inclined to think the story of the dauphin's death in France was not true," remarked Betty.
"Didn't Beranger's confession arouse inquiry, grandpa ?" asked Zoe.

"And did Eleazer Williams hear of it ?" "I think I may say yes to both your queries," Mr.Dinsmore answered.
"Eleazer's story was published in the newspapers some years ago, and I remember he was spoken of as a very good Christian man, a missionary among the Indians; it was brought out in book form also under the title 'The Lost Prince: A Life of Eleazer Williams.' "Eleazer himself stated that in 1848 he had an interview, on board a steamer from Buffalo, with the Prince de Joinville, who then told him he was the son of Louis XVI.