Maldonat had with him the _maître d’hôtel_ of M. de Nevers. They gave to M. de Montaigne the printed paper relating to the dispute between M. de Montpensier and M. de Nevers,[12] so that he might be rightly informed concerning the matter, and be able to explain the same to any gentlefolk who might question him thereanent. We set forth on the Friday morning and travelled seven leagues to Châlons.[13] Here we lodged at the “Crown,” a fine house, where we were served on silver plate, and most of us were provided with silken bedding. The ordinary houses of this district are built of chalk stone, cut into small blocks about half a foot square; some, however, are of turf, treated in like fashion. On the morrow we set out after dinner and slept at Vitri le François, seven leagues farther on. This is a small town on the banks of the Marne, built some thirty-five or forty years ago in place of the former town, which had been burnt. It still keeps its original form, pleasant and well proportioned, and in the midst thereof is a large square, one of the finest in France. During our sojourn there, three marvellous stories were told to us. One was that Madame the Dowager de Guise de Bourbon,[14] who was living at the age of eighty-seven years, could still go afoot for the distance of a quarter of a league. Another was, that a short time ago, execution had been done at Montirandet,[15] a place close by, upon one condemned for a certain offence. Several years before, seven or eight girls belonging to Chaumont-en-Bassigni had secretly determined to put on male attire, and to live the life of men. Amongst these one, called Mary, came from Vitry aforenamed. She got her living by weaving, passing as a well-favoured young man, and on friendly terms with every one. She engaged herself to marry a woman of Vitry, who is still alive, but on account of some strife which arose between them, the match went no further. Afterwards, having gone to Montirandet, and still following the weavers calling, she fell in love again with a certain woman, with whom she married and lived, as the story goes, contentedly four or five months. But, having been recognised by some one living at Chaumont, and the matter having been brought to the notice of the courts, she was condemned to be hanged; whereupon she declared she would liefer suffer thus than live a woman’s life. She was hanged on the charge of using unlawful appliances to remedy the defects of her sex.