o it.' In ten minutes I was dressed in a gown
of hers, which last had been worn when she danced before King Louis. It
fitted me well, and with a wig the colour of her hair, brought quickly
from her boxes, and use of paints which actors use, I was transformed.
Indeed, I could scarce recognize myself without the mask, and with it on
my mother would not have known me. 'I will go with you,' she said to me,
and she hurriedly put on an old woman's wig and a long cloak, quickly
lined her face, and we were ready. She walked lame, and must use a
stick, and we issued forth towards the Intendance, Mathilde remaining
behind.

"When we got to the palace, and were admitted, I asked for the
Intendant's valet, and we stood waiting in the cold hall until he was
brought. 'We come from Voban, the barber,' I whispered to him, for there
were servants near; and he led us at once to his private room. He did
not recognize me, but looked at us with sidelong curiosity. 'I am,' said
I, throwing back my cloak, 'a dancer, and I have come to dance before
the Intendant and his guests.' 'His Excellency does not expect you?'
he asked. 'His Excellency has many times asked Madame Jamond to dance
before him,' I replied. He was at once all complaisance, but his
face was troubled. 'You come from Monsieur Voban?' he inquired. 'From
Monsieur Voban,' answered I. 'He has gone to General Montcalm.' His face
fell, and a kind of fear passed over it. 'There is no peril to any one
save the English gentleman,' I urged. A light dawned on him. 'You dance
until the General comes?' he asked, pleased at his own penetration. 'You
will take me at once to the dining-hall,' said I, nodding. 'They are
in the Chambre de la Joie,' he rejoined. 'Then the Chambre de la Joie,'
said I; and he led the way. When we came near the chamber, I said to
him, 'You will tell the Intendant that a lady of some gifts in dancing
would entertain his guests; but she must come and go without exchange of
individual courtesies, at her will.

"He opened the door of the chamber, and we followed him; for there was
just inside a large oak screen, and from its shadow we could see the
room and all therein. At the first glance I shrank back, for, apart from
the noise and the clattering of tongues, such a riot of carousal I have
never seen. I was shocked to note gentlemen whom I had met in society,
with the show of decorum about them, loosed now from all restraint, and
swaggering like woodsmen at a fair. I f