But, when his death was announced, a story circulated the courts of Europe that soldiers loyal to the king had substituted the royal lad for a dying peasant boy and he had been spirited away to safety and await his coming of age and a suitable moment to retake the throne. It was suggested that the dauphin might have been smuggled out in a bathtub: a guard claimed that one of the men carrying a tub of water from the dauphin’s room stumbled and the cry of a young boy could clearly be heard.
