trange act of kidnapping, for she
kept silence very obligingly, and the coach had not been more than ten
minutes on the way when she accepted and returned a very satisfactory
kiss. The lover, who sat opposite to me, took no offence at an
occasional quite involuntary kick; as he did not understand French, I
conclude he paid no heed to them.

"'"I can be your mistress on one condition only," said the woman, in
reply to the nonsense I poured into her ear, carried away by the fervor
of an improvised passion, to which everything was unpropitious.

"'"And what is it?"

"'"That you will never attempt to find out whose servant I am. If I am
to go to you, it must be at night, and you must receive me in the dark."

"'"Very good," said I.

"'We had got as far as this, when the carriage drew up under a garden
wall.

"'"You must allow me to bandage your eyes," said the maid. "You can lean
on my arm, and I will lead you."

"'She tied a handkerchief over my eyes, fastening it in a tight knot at
the back of my head. I heard the sound of a key being cautiously fitted
to the lock of a little side door by the speechless lover who had sat
opposite to me. In a moment the waiting-woman, whose shape was slender,
and who walked with an elegant jauntiness'--_meneho_, as they call it,"
Monsieur Gravier explained in a superior tone, "a word which describes
the swing which women contrive to give a certain part of their dress
that shall be nameless.--'The waiting-woman'--it is the surgeon-major
who is speaking," the narrator went on--"'led me along the gravel walks
of a large garden, till at a certain spot she stopped. From the louder
sound of our footsteps, I concluded that we were close to the house.
"Now silence!" said she in a whisper, "and mind what you are about. Do
not overlook any of my signals; I cannot speak without terrible
danger for both of us, and at this moment your life is of the first
importance." Then she added: "My mistress is in a room on the ground
floor. To get into it we must pass through her husband's room and close
to his bed. Do not cough, walk softly, and follow me closely, so as not
to knock against the furniture or tread anywhere but on the carpets I
laid down."

"'Here the lover gave an impatient growl, as a man annoyed by so much
delay.

"'The woman said no more, I heard a door open, I felt the warm air of
the house, and we stole in like thieves. Presently the girl's light hand
removed the bandage. I found