But again the dread Fouche interposed; and although Bonaparte, then consul, would not allow the sham dauphin to be treated as a political offender, the chief of police had him put upon trial as a common impostor.  Madame Seignes was at the same time indicted as an accomplice, she having been the first who publicly acknowledged her conviction that Hervagault was the dauphin of the Temple.  The trial came on before the Tribunal of Justice on the 17th of February, 1802.  After a patient hearing Hervagault was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, while his deluded admirer was acquitted.

There was some hope in the bosoms of Hervagault’s partizans that the influence of his supposed sister, the Duchess d’Angouleme, would be sufficient to free him from the meshes of the law, and she was communicated with, but utterly repudiated the impostor.  Meantime appeals were lodged against the sentence on both sides—­by the prosecuting counsel, because of the acquittal of Madame Seignes, and by the friends of the prisoner against his conviction.  A new trial was therefore appointed to take place at Rheims.

In the interval a new and powerful friend arose for the captive in Charles Lafond de Savines, the ex-bishop of Viviers.  This ecclesiastic had been one of the earliest advocates of the revolution; but, on discovering its utter godlessness, had withdrawn from it in disgust, and had retired into private life.  In his seclusion the news reached him that the dauphin was still alive, and was resolved to re-establish a monarchy similar to that in England, and in which the church, although formally connected with the state, would be allowed freedom of thought and freedom of action within its own borders.  His zeal was excited, and he resolved to aid the unfortunate prince in so laudable an undertaking.  He was little disposed to question the identity of the pretender, for the surgeons who had performed the autopsy at the Temple Tower had told him that, although they had indeed opened the body of a child, they had not recognised it, and could not undertake to say that it was that of the dauphin.  To his mind, therefore, there appeared nothing extraordinary in the story of Hervagault, and he resolved to aid him to the best of his ability.

Recognising the deficiencies of the presumed heir to the throne of France, he determined to educate him as befitted his lofty rank, and declared himself willing, if he could not obtain the liberty of the prince, to share his captivity, and to teach him, in a dungeon, his duty towards God and man.  He also entered into a lengthy correspondence with illustrious royalists to secure their co-operation in his plans, and even projected a matrimonial alliance for his illustrious protege.  Nor did he offer only one lady to the choice of his future king.  There were three young sisters of considerable beauty at the time resident in the province of Dauphine, and he left Hervagault liberty to select one of the three.