She saw reason to fear that at the last moment she would be done out of the recompense of all her efforts, and that the Royal child would not be entrusted to her care.
However, it was clear that once the plan was agreed upon it was necessary in order to carry it out to secure the help of the gaoler Laurent, who had had the Dauphin under his charge during the last four months. Laurent’s complicity may be traced through the documents bearing upon the whole episode.
Let us examine first of all Laurent’s own famous letters, the first of which, dated November 7, 1794, synchronizes with the events we have been following.
It is well known that only copies of these letters are in existence—the originals have never been discovered. They were published first in a book which appeared in 1835, Le Véritable Duc de Normandie, the work of an adherent of the pretender, Nauendorff, Bourbon-Leblanc, whose real name was Gabriel de Bourbon-Russet, dit Leblanc. From the fact of the originals being missing, the authenticity of these letters has long been a matter for debate. A close examination of them, side by side with all the other documents upon which we have come in the course of our researches, results, we think, in justifying our belief in their genuineness.
Cormier, then, was not mistaken in supposing that his agents had modified their plan. The letter in which he confided his suspicion to Lady Atkyns was dated October 8, 1794. On the last day of the same month he wrote to her again:—
“I have to thank you cordially for your kind letter of yesterday. I have had no time to answer it properly, not because of the gout, for that has left me. In fact, my mind is so fully occupied that I have no time to trouble about any kind of malady, and am, in fact, at my wits’ end with excitement. However, I must just send you this brief note in haste (for it is just post time) to bid you not merely be at rest but to rejoice! I am able to assure you positively that the Master and his belongings are saved! There is no doubt about it. But say nothing of this, keep it absolutely secret, do not let it be suspected even by your bearing. Moreover, nothing will happen to-day, or to-morrow, or the day after, nor for more than a month, but I am quite sure of what I say, and I was never more at my ease in my own mind. I can give you no details now, and can only tell you all when we meet; but you can share my feeling of security. I am glad to say I have good news of my wife, but I must continue to keep a sharp look out all round me.”
This letter evidently alludes to what had happened at the Temple. The young Dauphin, we may conclude, was halfway on his road to liberty. Lodged in the garrets of the Temple tower, and with the little mute as his substitute down below, he was not yet out of peril. But an important step had been taken towards the ultimate goal.
It seemed clear that Laurent, l’homme de Barras, was having a share in this, and had at least rendered possible the execution of the project. The letter which he wrote eight days later to a general, whose identity has never been established, bore out exactly what Cormier had said; here it is:—
“General,
“Your letter of the 6th came too late, for your first plan had been carried out already—there was no time to lose. To-morrow a new warder is to enter upon his duties—a Republican named Gommier, a good fellow from what B—— tells me, but I have no confidence in such people. I shall find it very difficult to convey food to our P——. But I shall take care of him; you need not be anxious. The assassins have been duped, and the new municipal people have no idea that the little mute has been substituted for the Dauphin. The thing to be done now is to get him out of this cursed tower—but how? B—— tells me he cannot do anything on account of the way he is watched. If there were to be a long delay I should be uneasy about his health, for there is not much air in his oubliette—the bon Dieu would not find him there if he were not almighty! He has promised me to die rather than betray himself, and I have reason to believe that he would. His sister knows nothing; I thought it prudent to pass the little mute off on her as her real brother. Meanwhile, this poor little fellow seems quite happy, and plays his part so well, all unconsciously, that the new guard is convinced that he is merely refusing to speak. So there is no danger. Please send back our faithful messenger to me, as I have need of your help. Follow the advice he will convey to you orally, for that is the only way to our success.