of her own accord,
she supplied the key to her feelings. In a fresh outburst of rage she
snatched off her mask, and to my astonishment I saw before me the
young maid of honour whom I had encountered in the King of Navarre's
antechamber, and whom I had been so unfortunate as to expose to the
raillery of Mathurine.

'Who has paid you, sir,' she continued, clenching her small hands and
speaking with tears of anger in her eyes, 'to make me the laughing-stock
of the Court? It was bad enough when I thought you the proper agent of
those to whom I have a right to look for aid! It was bad enough when
I thought myself forced, through their inconsiderate choice, to
decide between an odious imprisonment and the ridicule to which your
intervention must expose me! But that you should have dared, of your own
notion, to follow me, you, the butt of the Court--'

'Mademoiselle!' I cried.

'A needy, out-at-elbows adventurer!' she persisted, triumphing in her
cruelty. 'It exceeds all bearing! It is not to be suffered! It--'

'Nay, mademoiselle; you SHALL hear me!' I cried, with a sternness which
at last stopped her. 'Granted I am poor, I am still a gentleman; yes,
mademoiselle,' I continued, firmly, 'a gentleman, and the last of a
family which has spoken with yours on equal terms. And I claim to be
heard. I swear that when I came here to-night I believed you to be a
perfect stranger! I was unaware that I had ever seen you, unaware that I
had ever met you before.'

'Then why did you come?' she said viciously.

'I was engaged to come by those whom you have mentioned, and there,
and there only am I in fault. They entrusted to me a token which I have
lost. For that I crave your pardon.'

'You have need to,' she answered bitterly, yet with a changed
countenance, or I was mistaken, 'if your story be true, sir.'

'Ay, that you have!' the woman beside her echoed.

'Hoity toity, indeed! Here is a fuss about nothing. You call yourself a
gentleman, and wear such a doublet as--'

'Peace, Fanchette,' mademoiselle said imperiously. And then for a moment
she stood silent, eyeing me intently, her lips trembling with excitement
and two red spots burning in her cheeks. It was clear from her dress
and other things that she had made up her mind to fly had the token been
forthcoming; and seeing this, and knowing how unwilling a young girl
is to forgo her own way, I still had some hopes that she might not
persevere in her distrust and refusal. And s