, madame, he would doubtless be indifferent to his wig!"

We looked at each other, she with a well-assumed air of dignity, I
with a suppressed smile.

"I see," said I, "that we must pay special respect to the ears of the
little sex, for they are the only chaste things about them."

I assumed the attitude of a man who has something of importance to
disclose, and the fair dame lowered her eyes, as if she had some
reason to blush.

"Madame, in these days a minister is not hanged, as once upon a time,
for saying yes or no; a Chateaubriand would scarcely torture Francoise
de Foix, and we wear no longer at our side a long sword ready to
avenge an insult. Now in a century when civilization has made such
rapid progress, when we can learn a science in twenty-four lessons,
everything must follow this race after perfection. We can no longer
speak the manly, rude, coarse language of our ancestors. The age in
which are fabricated such fine, such brilliant stuffs, such elegant
furniture, and when are made such rich porcelains, must needs be the
age of periphrase and circumlocution. We must try, therefore, to coin
a new word in place of the comic expression which Moliere used; since
the language of this great man, as a contemporary author has said, is
too free for ladies who find gauze too thick for their garments. But
people of the world know, as well as the learned, how the Greeks had
an innate taste for mysteries. That poetic nation knew well how to
invest with the tints of fable the antique traditions of their
history. At the voice of their rhapsodists together with their poets
and romancers, kings became gods and their adventures of gallantry
were transformed into immortal allegories. According to M. Chompre,
licentiate in law, the classic author of the _Dictionary of
Mythology_, the labyrinth was 'an enclosure planted with trees and
adorned with buildings arranged in such a way that when a young man
once entered, he could no more find his way out.' Here and there
flowery thickets were presented to his view, but in the midst of a
multitude of alleys, which crossed and recrossed his path and bore the
appearance of a uniform passage, among the briars, rocks and thorns,
the patient found himself in combat with an animal called the
Minotaur.

"Now, madame, if you will allow me the honor of calling to your mind
the fact that the Minotaur was of all known beasts that which
Mythology distinguishes as the most dangerous; that in or