Bellenger's countenance changed, and he took his hand off his hip and let it hang down.
"I received the prince, monsieur, from those who took him out of the Temple prison."
"And you never exchanged him for another person, or allowed him to be separated from you?"
Bellenger swore with ghastly lips—"Never, on my hopes of salvation, monsieur the abbé!"
"Admitting that somebody gave you this child to keep—by the way, how old is he?"
"About twenty years, monsieur."
"What right had you to assume he was the dauphin?"
"I had received a yearly pension, monsieur, from his Majesty himself, for the maintenance of the prince."
"You received the yearly pension through my hand, acting as his Majesty's almoner, His Majesty was ever too bountiful to the unfortunate. He has many dependents. Where have you lived with your charge?"
"We lived in America, sometimes in the woods; and sometimes in towns."