human
You're a pack of sillies, exclaimed the Imp scornfully,
gpt
What are you saying? 'To the whole world'? cried Carol.
human
Are you going crazy, or do you think you are taking us in again with some of your nonsense?
gpt
I'm _not_ talking nonsense, and I'll prove it. Do you know what I discovered by reading a little more than you did at the library, and also from an old book that Miss Hastings lent me, because I told her I was interested in the subject? Well, I found out that, although most people think it's a settled fact that that poor little dauphin died in prison, still there are a lot of legends that he really escaped, that he was helped to escape by some of the Royalists, and that the little boy who died there wasn't the dauphin at all!
human
But--but-- stammered Sue,
gpt
That's something that never was known, answered the Imp.
human
After the downfall of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbons in France, there were a lot of pretenders who _said_ they were the escaped dauphin and claimed the throne. But they never could prove it, so no one paid much attention to them. Only you see there must have been some truth in it,--his escape, I mean,--or no one would have thought of such a thing.
gpt
But I don't see, anyway, what all that has to do with this affair,
human
Don't you? replied the Imp coldly.
gpt
Then you're more stupid than I gave you credit for being.
human
Mercy! It can't be possible that--
gpt
Wait a minute, interrupted the Imp.
human
I'm going to answer your question about those three things, and see what you make of it. Do you remember what they used to call Louis XVI--the people, I mean? I'm sure you know, because you mentioned it to me that day you were telling me what you'd found out.
gpt
Right, said the Imp.
human
Does _that_ make you think of anything?
gpt
Oh, you're hopeless! groaned the Imp.
human
Try the next one. When Louis was sick one time Monsieur stood over him murmuring something about 'the Temple look.' Does _that_ convey anything to your mind?
gpt
It does to mine, interrupted Sue.
human
Oh, I believe I'm beginning to understand.
gpt
Well, here's the last, went on the Imp.
human
Why should Monsieur and all the others treat Louis in the queer way they do? Why should Louis have found Monsieur kissing his hand that time?
gpt
Oh, please explain _clearly_, Bobs! moaned Carol.
human
You mix me up so, firing questions at me, that I can't think at all. Just say straight out what it is.
gpt
All right, I will. I'll say it in words of one syllable, suitable to your infant mind, laughed the Imp.
human
It may sound like the craziest idea that ever was imagined, but I believe Louis to be a descendant of that little dauphin, and I believe Monsieur knows it and the Meadows people, too.
gpt
I can't believe it, murmured Carol, at length.
human
Right here on little Paradise Green, way out of the world, to have such a thing happen? Impossible!
gpt
It's no stranger than lots of other things that have happened in history, asserted the Imp,
human
But here, _here_! cried Sue.
gpt
What in the world would Louis be doing in America? I could believe it more easily if we lived somewhere in France.
human
I read in one book, replied the Imp to this objection,
gpt
Now I begin to see, remarked Carol, after a long pause,
human
she cried enthusiastically,
gpt
That remark about 'the Temple look' meant, I suppose, murmured Sue,
human
That's easy, answered the Imp.
gpt
It was one of the first things I thought of. Don't you remember how Louis XVI was always tinkering with things and fixing locks, and how fond he was of mechanical work? The whole court used to resent it. Well, the Meadows and Monsieur evidently think that Louis has inherited that trait, and it drives them wild. Don't you remember what Louis told us Miss Yvonne once said when she found him fixing the lock on the kitchen-door? 'The ancient blood! It will ruin everything!' Doesn't that indicate what they think?
human
True enough, Sue had to admit.
gpt
But what foolishness all this is, girls, when you think of Louis's history and the history of his family! I was asking Father about Louis's folks not long ago, just out of curiosity. He said that the Durants had lived in and owned that house across the Green for many, many years, even longer than our descendants have lived in our house. It was way back in the eighties when Louis's father left here and went out West. He was a young man then, about Father's age. In fact, they'd gone to school together. But this Charles Durant went away out West to better himself, and rented the old house on this Green. Father says he never saw him again, because Charles Durant and the wife he'd married out there were suddenly killed in an accident. The first Father heard about it was when old Mr. Meadows and his daughter, whom nobody had ever seen before, came to this place with the tiny baby who was Louis, and settled here for good. They never said much about themselves, except that they were old friends of the Durant family and that they had always lived in France. They explained that they had come over here to take care of and bring up the last Durant baby, since its parents had been killed. Now will you tell me how anything about a dauphin could come in there?
human
Maybe they didn't bring the baby from out West, suggested Carol,
gpt
That's possible, too, said the Imp,
human
But who is this 'Monsieur,' and what has _he_ to do with the whole thing?
gpt
That, admitted the Imp,
human
Bobs, cried Sue, suddenly going off at a tangent,
gpt
Why, of course I don't _know_, laughed the Imp,