"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. "Oh, you're hopeless!" groaned the Imp. "Try the next one. When Louis was sick one time Monsieur stood over him murmuring something about 'the Temple look.' Does _that_ convey anything to your mind?" "It does to mine," interrupted Sue. "Oh, I believe I'm beginning to understand." But Carol still looked hopelessly confused. "Well, here's the last," went on the Imp. "Why should Monsieur and all the others treat Louis in the queer way they do? Why should Louis have found Monsieur kissing his hand that time?" "Oh, please explain _clearly_, Bobs!" moaned Carol. "You mix me up so, firing questions at me, that I can't think at all. Just say straight out what it is." "All right, I will. I'll say it in words of one syllable, suitable to your infant mind," laughed the Imp. "It may sound like the craziest idea that ever was imagined, but I believe Louis to be a descendant of that little dauphin, and I believe Monsieur knows it and the Meadows people, too." The conjecture was so stupefying in its scope that the three girls sat for a moment in dumb, confused wonder. "I can't believe it," murmured Carol, at length. "Right here on little Paradise Green, way out of the world, to have such a thing happen? Impossible!" "It's no stranger than lots of other things that have happened in history," asserted the Imp, "when you come to think it over. And it's so possible, too." "But here, _here_!" cried Sue. "What in the world would Louis be doing in America? I could believe it more easily if we lived somewhere in France."