xc AUDUBON THE NATURALIST 



the Indians, for Audubon's religious life was deeply spiritual, 

 and he may have used his stay in Canada to this end ; and the 

 Williams boy's mother, Mrs. Williams, is reputed to be the 

 indomitable and indefatigable Lady Atkyns, who gave Marie 

 Antoinette her pledge that she would never stop till she had 

 saved her son, Louis 17th. It may be that Lady Atkyn's pledge 

 was thus fulfilled." 



What a strange denouement ! Audubon, at the age of 

 eleven, giving spiritual comfort to North American Indians, 

 whom he had never seen, in "Selkirk's Settlements," which did 

 not then exist, and in a country which he had never visited ! 

 What, I wonder, would Lady Atkyns — Walpole born, whose 

 husband had been a Norfolk baronet — have thought, after all 

 her money had been thrown to the winds in a vain, if worthy, 

 cause, of being reputed the mother of a half-breed American 

 Indian, and a pious impostor at that? Would not the ardent 

 biographer of that "Williams boy," who protested that he was 

 not starting a moon hoax, be equally surprised to know how 

 much moonshine there was in his whole story? 



Audubon's life was romantic enough. He does not need any 

 false halo of royalty. He can stand on his own feet. 



