The Valet's Tragedy, and Other Studies

"The Valet's Tragedy, and Other Studies" by Andrew Lang is a deep investigation into strange historical puzzles from the late 1800s. The book looks closely at Eustache Dauger, who many think is connected to the famous Man in the Iron Mask, along with other important people and happenings from the past. It starts by examining the Man in the Iron Mask story, carefully separating what's real from what people imagined. Lang tells us about Eustache Dauger, a regular servant who got mixed up in royal secrets. Dauger was locked up under very strange rules, and his story makes us wonder who he really was and what secrets he knew. By looking at Dauger's story, the book kicks off a quest to unlock the meaning of other historical unknowns in later chapters.