The details of his fate can never be stated with accuracy, so involved and uncertain is the tragic mystery, but Hoffmann’s narrative is undoubtedly correct in its general outlines. There are almost as many different versions as there are histories of that thrilling period. G. P. U. Chicago, 1905 Contents I Sunny Days 11 II The Night of Varennes 30 III In the Temple 65 IV Separation from his Mother 79 V The Cobbler Simon 93 VI The End of Sorrows 126 Appendix 149 List of Illustrations Happy days in the garden _Frontispiece_ _Facing page_ The King’s last farewell 76 The Cobbler and his little victim 120 The Dauphin and the sparrows 138 The Little Dauphin Chapter I Sunny Days Within the grounds of the Tuileries,—that splendid palace of the King of France,—at the end of a terrace overlooking the water, there was, in 1790, a small garden surrounded by a neat trellis and adjoining a pavilion occupied by the Abbé Daveaux, tutor of the Dauphin, or Crown Prince, Louis Charles.[1] On a certain bright July morning in that year a handsome, graceful boy about five years old entered this garden. He was richly and carefully dressed, and was accompanied by a small detachment of soldiers in the uniform of the National Guard, who followed him on foot to the gate in the trellis and stationed themselves there as sentinels. The boy bowed courteously to them and said, smiling: “I am sorry, gentlemen, my garden is so small I cannot have the pleasure of receiving you in it, but I will do the best I can,” and quickly gathering a handful of flowers, he proceeded to distribute them among his escort with such winning sweetness that the bearded soldiers could scarcely restrain their emotion.