get beyond the barriers to-day."

At this moment, I remembered to have heard of Montlhery as a place where
there was a forest and a feudal ruin; also, which was more to the
purpose, as lying at least six-and-twenty miles south of Paris.

"My dear Mademoiselle Josephine," I said, "forgive me. I have planned an
excursion which I am sure will please you infinitely better than a mere
common-place trip to Versailles. Versailles, on Sunday, is vulgar. You
have heard, of course, of Montlhery--one of the most interesting places
near Paris."

"I have read a romance called _The Tower of Montlhery"_ said Josephine.

"And that tower--that historical and interesting tower--is still
standing! How delightful to wander among the ruins--to recall the
stirring events which caused it to be besieged in the reign of--of
either Louis the Eleventh, or Louis the Fourteenth; I don't remember
which, and it doesn't signify--to explore the picturesque village, and
ramble through the adjoining woods of St. Genevieve--to visit..."

"I wonder if we shall find any donkeys to ride," interrupted Josephine,
upon whom my eloquence was taking the desired effect.

"Donkeys!" I exclaimed, drawing, I am ashamed to say, upon my
imagination. "Of course--hundreds of them!"

"_Ah, ca_! Then the sooner we go the better. Stay, I must just lock my
door, and leave word with my neighbor on the next floor that I am gone
out for the day,"

So she locked the door and left the message, and we started. I was
fortunate enough to find a close cab at the corner of the _marche_--she
would have preferred an open one, but I overruled that objection on the
score of time--and before very long we were seated in the cushioned
fauteuils of a first-class compartment on the Orleans Railway, and
speeding away towards Montlhery.

It was with no trifling sense of relief that I found the place really
picturesque, when we arrived. We had, it is true, to put up with a
comfortless drive of three or four miles in a primitive, jolting, yellow
omnibus, which crawled at stated hours of the day between the town and
the station; but that was a minor evil, and we made the best of it.
First of all, we strolled through the village--the clean, white, sunny
village, where the people were sitting outside their doors playing at
dominoes, and the cocks and hens were walking about like privileged
inhabitants of the market-place. Then we had luncheon at the _auberge_
of the "Lion d'Or." Then we loo