"You are a stranger in Paris, you seem a man of honor; for those reasons I choose you. I would not care to have one of my own gentlemen know what I wish to do. All Paris would talk of it to-morrow. We in the palace see naught of the common people, and I have long dreamed it would be a brave adventure to go unknown among them, to their inns and gathering places. I have always desired to know more of our Paris, especially one place which I hear mentioned frequently of late. My position will not permit me to visit it openly--you understand." I protested that knowing naught of the streets I should be but a blind guide. "I know where I would go," she said, determinedly, brushing aside the difficulties I would suggest, "and I will go; you will go too." I was vastly troubled at this, for might it not lead to such another escapade as came so near costing me dear? Her eyes fixed full upon me, her voice blended a command which no man dared disobey, with an entreaty which none would willingly run counter to, and I gave reluctant assent. "Will you await me here?" she demanded rather than asked. "My apartments are in this building. I will return very briefly." When the lady came back she would never have been taken for a woman; her long cloak, such as men wore, reached to her boots, identical in all respects with my own. Her hat, plume and sword were correct and bravely worn. Her maid, a trifle nervous over the adventure, but who said nothing, bore a similar cloak for me, and held two masks in her hands. "Will my lord throw this about him?" and without any question I assumed the cloak. "Now this," and she handed me a mask while she affixed one about her own face. I demurred to the mask. "I will not take my lady upon an errand where we can not show our faces." She laughed merrily, and replied: "It is the way of Paris, my lord, and naught is thought of it. Many lords and ladies wish to keep their faces from the _canaille_." I drew a breath of resignation and put it on. "Am I not a comely man?" the lady asked, one touch of woman's vanity showing through it all. "Yes, by my faith, madame;" but such sayings were foreign to my awkward tongue. She led me out of the palace by a private way, and when the street was reached we walked along as two men would. She directed our course, and as she gave no hint of her destination I did not inquire. It was but a brief walk before we came to an arched door on a side street, and there she paused and looked carefully about to see that no one watched us and then--in we went. The lady seemed in highest spirits over her unaccountable prank, and laughed girlishly. "Now I will gratify my curiosity. You know I admit my curiosity, sometimes. These men are not alone in their thirst for excitement. It is so tiresome at court, ever the same thing day after day."