said to me with a strong German accent:
'You are French, Monsieur, are you not?' 'Certainly, I am,' I replied.
'And would you like to go home with a very pretty woman?'

"'Most certainly I should,' I replied, with a laugh.

"Nothing could have been funnier than the looks and the serious air of
the procuress, or than the strangeness of the proposal, made to broad
daylight, and in very bad French, but it was even worse when she added:
'Do you know everything they do in Paris?' 'What do you mean, my good
woman?' I asked her, rather startled. 'What is done in Paris, that is
not done everywhere else?'

"However, when she explained her meaning, I replied that I certainly
could not, and as I was not quite so immodest as the lady, I blushed a
little. But not for long, for almost immediately afterwards I grew pale,
when she said: 'I want to assure myself of it, personally.' And she said
this in the same phlegmatic manner, which did not seem so funny to me
now, but, on the contrary, rather frightened me. 'What!' I said.
'Personally! You! Explain yourself!'

"If I had been rather surprised before, I was altogether astonished at
her explanation. It was indeed an adventure, and was almost like a
romance. I could scarcely believe my ears, but this is what she told me.

"She was the confidential attendant on a lady moving in high society,
who wished to be initiated into the most secret refinements of Parisian
high life, and who had done me the honor of choosing me for her
companion. But then, this preliminary test! 'By Jove!' I said to myself,
'this old German hag is not so stupid as she looks!' And I laughed in my
sleeve, as I listened inattentively to what she was saying to persuade
me.

"'My mistress is the prettiest woman you can dream of; a real beauty;
springtime! A flower!' 'You must excuse me, but if your mistress is
really like springtime and a flower, you (pray excuse me for being so
blunt) are not exactly that, and perhaps I should not exactly be in a
mood to humor you, my dear lady, in the same way that I might her.'

"She jumped back, astonished in turn: 'Why, I only want to satisfy
myself with my own eyes; not by injuring you.' And she finished her
explanation, which had been incomplete before. All she had to do was to
go with me to _Mother Patata's_ well-known establishment, and there to
be present while I conversed with one of its fair and frail inhabitants.

"'Oh!' I said to myself, 'I was mistaken in her tast