vily the while. At that she gave a little cry of alarm.

"Monsieur, I beseech you to be seated. I will summon my father, and we
will find a bed for you. You must not retain those clothes."

"Angel of goodness!" I muttered gratefully, and being still half dazed,
I brought some of my Court tricks into that chamber by taking her hand
and carrying it towards my lips. But ere I had imprinted the intended
kiss upon her fingers--and by some miracle they were not withdrawn--my
eyes encountered hers again. I paused as one may pause who contemplates
a sacrilege. For a moment she held my glance with hers; then I fell
abashed, and released her hand.

The innocence peeping out of that child's eyes it was that had in that
moment daunted me, and made me tremble to think of being found there,
and of the vile thing it would be to have her name coupled with mine.
That thought lent me strength. I cast my weariness from me as though it
were a garment, and, straightening myself, I stepped of a sudden to the
window. Without a word, I made shift to draw back the curtain when her
hand, falling on my sodden sleeve, arrested me.

"What will you do, monsieur?" she cried in alarm. "You may be seen."

My mind was now possessed by the thing I should have thought of before.
I climbed to her balcony, and my one resolve was to get me thence as
quickly as might be.

"I had not the right to enter here," I muttered. "I--" I stopped short;
to explain would only be to sully, and so, "Good-night! Adieu!" I ended
brusquely.

"But, monsieur--" she began.

"Let me go," I commanded almost roughly, as I shook my arm free of her
grasp.

"Bethink you that you are exhausted. If you go forth now, monsieur, you
will assuredly be taken. You must not go."

I laughed softly, and with some bitterness, too, for I was angry with
myself.

"Hush, child," I said. "Better so, if it is to be."

And with that I drew aside the curtains and pushed the leaves of the
window apart. She remained standing in the room, watching me, her face
pale, and hex eyes pained and puzzled.

One last glance I gave her as I bestrode the rail of her balcony. Then
I lowered myself as I had ascended. I was hanging by my hands, seeking
with my foot for the coping of the window beneath me, when, suddenly,
there came a buzzing in my ears. I had a fleeting vision of a white
figure leaning on the balcony above me; then a veil seemed drawn over
my eyes; there came a sense of falling; a rush as