The Man in the Iron Mask [An Essay]

A >> Alexandre Dumas, Pere >> The Man in the Iron Mask [An Essay]


We have now impartially set before our readers all the opinions which
have been held in regard to the solution of this formidable enigma. For
ourselves, we hold the belief that the Man in the Iron Mask stood on the
steps of the throne. Although the mystery cannot be said to be
definitely cleared up, one thing stands out firmly established among the
mass of conjecture we have collected together, and that is, that wherever
the prisoner appeared he was ordered to wear a mask on pain of death.
His features, therefore, might during half a century have brought about
his recognition from one end of France to the other; consequently, during
the same space of time there existed in France a face resembling the
prisoner's known through all her provinces, even to her most secluded
isle.

Whose face could this be, if not that of Louis XVI, twin-brother of the
Man in the Iron Mask?

To nullify this simple and natural conclusion strong evidence will be
required.

Our task has been limited to that of an examining judge at a trial, and
we feel sure that our readers will not be sorry that we have left them to
choose amid all the conflicting explanations of the puzzle. No consistent
narrative that we might have concocted would, it seems to us, have been
half as interesting to them as to allow them to follow the devious paths
opened up by those who entered on the search for the heart of the
mystery. Everything connected with the masked prisoner arouses the most
vivid curiosity. And what end had we in view? Was it not to denounce a
crime and to brand the perpetrator thereof? The facts as they stand are
sufficient for our object, and speak more eloquently than if used to
adorn a tale or to prove an ingenious theory.