FOREWORD AND POSTSCRIPT lxxiii 



arine Bouffard, who had succeeded her in the Audubon home, 

 was still alive, and when her daughter, Rosa, was adopted, 

 Captain Audubon was forced to record her name because, as 

 she was still in France, she could have entered a legal objec- 

 tion." 



Mrs. Tyler reproduces the title of a book on the Red River 

 Colony which she says "serves to prove that Selkirk's Settle- 

 ments were preeminently suited for the purpose of hiding the 

 little King of France far from a world on fire with his pur- 

 suit. . . . And the by-products of this place of concealment 

 were to exceed in importance to the world even his physical 

 survival. The germinating genius of this growing boy which 

 straight through life seemed to flower under adversity, was born 

 of this forest life and intimacy with primeval nature. 



"It would have been natural for Admiral Audubon to turn 

 his eyes to those North American outbounds of civilization, 

 which he had so extensively traversed, were he casting about 

 to find asylum for his adopted son after Charette's death. . . . 

 Something had to be done to get that little boy out of danger, 

 and so completely beyond the reach of Carrier's followers that 

 pursuit would be absolutely impossible. Nor would distance 

 alone provide sufficient protection. Secrecy must again be in- 

 voked, and masquerading under some impenetrable guise, Sel- 

 kirk's Settlements provided both requirements." 



Mrs. Tyler even charts the course which she thinks Louis 

 XVII, masquerading as John James Audubon, had taken in 

 travelling from Nantes to the wilds of Canada ; to England, 

 "the first destination of so many French refugees, . . . Saint- 

 Domingue, Admiral Audubon's former home; and probably 

 from there to New Orleans, and up the Mississippi to the 

 Settlements. . . . 



"The name La Foret, which Audubon assumed, and which 

 has never had any explanation, probably dates from this period. 

 It may be the name under which John James Audubon was 

 known as a Selkirk "Settlements colonist. . . . This name was 

 probably dear to her [Mrs. Audubon], because she was the only 



