He arrived at the Temple in the evening; but, having no idea of the real state of the child, he did not visit his little prisoner until the guard was changed at two o’clock in the morning.  When he arrived at the entrance-door, the foul smell emanating therefrom almost drove him back.  But he was forced to overcome his repugnance; for when the municipals battered at the little wicket, and shouted for Capet, no Capet responded.  At last, after having been frequently called, a feeble voice answered “Yes;” but there was no motion on the part of the speaker.  No amount of threatening could induce the occupant of the bed to leave it, and Laurent was compelled to accept his new charge in this way, knowing that he was safe somewhere in that dark and abominable hole.  Early next morning he was at the wicket again, and saw a sight which caused him to send an immediate request to his superiors to come and visit their captive.  Two days later several members of the Committee of General Safety repaired to the Temple, the barrier and the wicket were torn down, and “in a dark room, from which exhaled an odour of corruption and death, on a dirty unmade bed, barely covered with a filthy cloth and a ragged pair of trousers, a child of nine years old was lying motionless, his back bent, his face wan and wasted with misery, and his features exhibiting an expression of mournful apathy and rigid unintelligence.  His head and neck were fretted by purulent sores, his legs and arms were lengthened disproportionately, his knees and wrists were covered with blue and yellow swellings, his feet and hands unlike in appearance to human flesh, and armed with nails of an immense length; his beautiful fair hair was stuck to his head by an inveterate scurvy like pitch; and his body, and the rags which covered him, were alive with vermin.”  Mentally he was almost an imbecile; and in answer to all the questions which were put to him, he only said once, “I wish to die.”  And this was the son of Louis XVI., and the nearest heir to the throne of France!

The commissaries having given some trifling directions, went their way to concoct a report, leaving Laurent with very indefinite instructions.  But all the human feelings of the man were roused.  He sent at once for another bed, and bathed the child’s wounds.  He got an old woman to cut his hair, and comb it out, and wash him, and persuaded one of the municipals, who had been a kind of doctor, to prescribe for the sores, and managed to persuade his superiors to send a tailor, who made a suit of good clothes for the dauphin.  At first the boy had some difficulty in understanding the change, but as it dawned upon him he was very grateful.  Nor did Laurent’s good work stop here.  Although the Revolution was less bloody than before, it was still very jealous; and the keeper of the Temple was not permitted to see his prisoner, except at meal times and rare intervals.  Still he contrived to obtain permission to carry him to the top of the Tower, on the plea that fresh air was essential to his health, and tended him so assiduously, that while the prisoner was partially restored, and could walk about, the strength of his custodier broke down.