Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur OrtonAnonymous
History
Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton
Anonymous
Impostors and imposture -- Biography
The last commands of Bonaparte had been so precise that no one dared
to disobey them, and the sham dauphin for a time disappeared from
public view. When the period of his imprisonment was at an end, he was
turned out of the Bicetre, with an order forbidding him to remain more
than one day in Paris--a miserable vagabond dressed in the prison
garb! During his incarceration he had gained the friendship of a Jew
named Emanuel, who had given him a letter to his wife, in which he
entreated her to treat his comrade hospitably for the solitary night
which he was permitted to spend in the capital. When Hervagault
arrived at the Rue des Ecrivains, where the Jewess lodged, she was not
at home; but a pastry-cook and his wife, who had a shop close by,
invited the dejected caller to rest in their parlour until his friend
returned. The couple were simple; Hervagault's plausibility was as
great as ever, and, little by little, he told the story of his
persecution, and passed himself off as a distressed royalist. The
sympathies of the honest pastry-cook were stirred, and he not only
invited the rogue to make his house his home, but clothed him, filled
his purse, and took him to various places of public entertainment.
In return for this generous treatment, Hervagault in confidence
informed his new protector that he was none other than the prisoner of
the Temple; and that, when his throne was set up, the kindness he had
received would be remembered and recompensed a thousandfold. One
favour he did ask--money sufficient to carry him to Normandy. The
needful francs were forthcoming, and the deluded pastry-cook bade his
future sovereign a respectful adieu at the door of the diligence,
never again to behold him, or his money, or his reward.
Hervagault's next appearance was in an entirely new character. He
entered on board a man-of-war at Brest, under the name of
Louis-Charles, and distinguished himself both for good conduct and
courage. But he could not remain content with the praises which he
acquired by his bravery, and once more confided the wonderful story of
his birth and misfortunes to his shipmates, many of whom listened and
believed. But the monotony of life at sea was too great for his
sensitive nerves, and he deserted, and again took to a wandering life,
trying his fortunes, on this occasion, among the royalists of Lower
Brittany. Intelligence of his whereabouts soon reached the government,
and he was arrested and again conveyed to the Bicetre, with the
intimation that his captivity would only terminate with his life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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