ilight or Care," I excused
myself hesitatingly, though I had an accurate eye for dresses, and
could have registered a solemn oath that the mysterious unknown was even
wearing especially authentic claustral attire. No one, however, could
by any effort remember having noticed a costume anything like that
described by me.

"Are there any secret passages to any of the rooms and galleries which
are the scene of tonight's festivities?" I asked a doorkeeper. He looked
at me in surprise, and answered:

"All ways of communication were opened today because of the crowd of
guests, but for safety's sake guarded and watched more carefully than
usual. Only the tapestried corridor running the length of the great
colonnade to the royal apartments was left unguarded, since in that
place there is no possibility of improper intrusion."

A new idea flashed across me. The spot on which I had first set eyes on
my nun was at the entrance to that corridor. Might not a member of the
royal family have elected to make me, as a novice in this foreign court
society, the subject of a merry jest? No doubt the nun was a man in
disguise, and the young princes and dukes were probably capable of
pouncing on the victim and dancing him to death.

My confusion was perhaps very diverting, and the secrecy of the few
spectators of the joke, who were, of course, initiated, was quite
praiseworthy.

They asserted not having seen a nun at all, and laughed at me for having
rushed round the room alone, like a lunatic, Obviously there was no
further room for doubt, this explanation and no other was valid. Why had
I not thought of this before!

So I joined in the hilarity of the others and made the best of my
discomfiture. In any case, the manner in which my partner had dismissed
me betrayed a pair of powerful masculine fists! My shoulders, on which
she had come down so vigorously ached as if they were broken, and I was
still unable to conquer entirely a peculiar sensation of uneasiness.
But while I was pursuing my investigations the clock struck twelve,
the company unmasked, and gaily flocked toward the Supper rooms. I
felt particularly entitled to refreshments, and in the course of my
indulgence in the good things of my selection, my faintness--which was
more astonishing to my robust, muscular young self than any carnival
joke in the world could have been--passed off completely. I was as happy
and lively as before, and enjoyed the remainder of the ball as muc