he
streets to-night; but no one will look twice at a uniform."

"But I cannot. Think what it will mean to me if I am discovered;
think what it will mean even if I succeed."

"Marguerite, Marguerite, you must forget what you are! You must
forget what you can do, and what you cannot do! Forget everything,
save that these tidings must reach M. de Levis to-night, and that
you are the only one who can carry them. There! Begin to undress
at once! Quick! Quick! Any further delay may render all useless."

Might this not be the reparation for any share I had had in the
failure of Sarennes to return to succour Louisbourg? If I accepted
it and proved successful, would not I carry into my new vocation
something more than the failure of a life that had sought but its
own ends? If I failed, would not I have attempted at least something
for those who had so generously befriended me? Was not my shrinking
from the ordeal of the disguise but a harking back to those little
conventions which I had resolved to cast aside forever? Could I
make a better use of my life than to lay it down, if need be, in
such a cause?

Reasoning thus, I caught something of the intensity of purpose
which dominated Angelique, and with fingers as eager as her own I
prepared myself for my venture.

"What if I am stopped and spoken to in the town?"

"Don't be stopped," she laughed, "and you mustn't speak unless your
life depends on it. Carry your sword in your hand, so it won't trip
you up, square your shoulders, and try to swagger like a man. Once
outside the walls, you run no danger at all. Keep on the Ste. Foye
Road, and you are sure to fall in with our people and be captured
in due form. Then say, 'Gentlemen, I am a most important prisoner;
take me at once to M. le general!' et v'la! the trick is done!
Nothing easier; if I had only learned to speak your barbarous
language, and were a little taller, I would be in your shoes
to-night, and wouldn't change places with the best lady in
Versailles!"

Chattering and laughing thus in her excitement, she shortened up
straps and adjusted buckles with as many jests as though dressing
me for a masquerade.

[Illustration: "She shortened up straps and adjusted buckles."]

"There!" she cried, as she coiled up my hair tightly, "we must do
without the wig, but the bonnet will cover a multitude of sins.
You are as pretty a looking fellow as the heart of woman could
desire. Nothing is wanting now but a brave carriage