In his popular novel, Le Cimetière de la Madeleine (The Madeleine Cemetery; 1800-01), J.-J. Regnault-Warin begins where Louis XVI’s life left off, in the Madeleine Cemetery. A curious, sensitive young man visits the cemetery one night and meets an elderly gentleman sitting in the dark singing a sad song. The old man recoils in fear of police, but when calmed, he gestures to the tombs at their feet, where lie his onetime friends and associates Malesherbes, Lavoisier, and King Louis XVI. Realizing their common nostalgia for the Bourbon monarchy, the two agree to continue the conversation the next night. It is only then that the youth realizes that this intriguing elder is none other than …. Twelve “nights” follow, revealing the secret history of Louis’s last years. Who is that mystery man?
a. General Lafayette
b. Abbé Edgeworth
c. Joseph Priestley
d. Abbé Barruel