"That's something that never was known," answered the Imp. "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."
"But I don't see, anyway, what all that has to do with this affair," remarked Carol.
"Don't you?" replied the Imp coldly. "Then you're more stupid than I gave you credit for being."
Carol quite wilted under this rebuke, but Sue, who had been doing some rapid thinking, cried:
"Mercy! It can't be possible that—"
"Wait a minute," interrupted the Imp. "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."
"'Louis the Locksmith,'" answered Carol promptly.
"Right," said the Imp. "Does that make you think of anything?"
Carol shook her head.