in fact, cared for
nothing else, and what gave it a particular zest was, that he knew that
he was not a girl, and that he was living in disguise. And this was
evident, by the exaggerated feminine bearing and walk he put on, as if
to show that it was not natural to him. His enormous, carefully frilled
cap was adorned with large variegated ribbons. His petticoat, with
numerous flounces, was distended behind by many hoops. He walked with
short steps, and with exaggerated swaying of the hips, while his folded
arms and crossed hands were distorted into pretensions of comical
coquetry.

On such occasions, if anybody wished to make friends with him, it was
necessary to say:

"Ah! _Mademoiselle_, what a nice girl you make."

That put him into a good humor, and he used to reply, much pleased:

"Don't I? But people can see I only do it for a joke."

But, nevertheless, when they were dancing at village festivals in the
neighborhood, he would always be invited to dance as _Mademoiselle_, and
would never ask any of the girls to dance with him; and one evening when
somebody asked him the reason for this, he opened his eyes wide, laughed
as if the man had said something very stupid, and replied:

"I cannot ask the girls because I am not dressed like a lad. Just look
at my dress, you fool!"

As his interrogator was a judicious man, he said to him:

"Then dress like one, _Mademoiselle_."

He thought for a moment, and then said with a cunning look:

"But if I dress like a lad, I shall no longer be a girl; but then, I am
a girl;" and he shrugged his shoulders as he said it.

But the remark seemed to make him think.

For some time afterwards, when he met the same person, he asked him
abruptly:

"If I dress like a lad, will you still call me _Mademoiselle_?"

"Of course, I shall," the other replied. "You will always be called so."

The idiot appeared delighted, for there was no doubt that he thought
more of his nickname than he did of his dress, and the next day he made
his appearance in the village square without his petticoats and dressed
as a man. He had taken a pair of trousers, a coat and a hat, from his
guardian's clothes-press, and this created quite a revolution in the
neighborhood, for the people, who had been in the habit of smiling at
him kindly when he was dressed as a woman, looked at him in astonishment
and almost in fear, while the indulgent could not help laughing, and
visibly making fun of him.

The invo