idea struck him that the incognita was no other than Veronics, an old deaf servant of Madame de Neuillant, whom he knew very well, went round to address her in front. The youth's surprise was prodigious to see, instead of the withered features of Veronica, nothing more than a pair of eyes-white, black, or grey, brilliant or opaque, he knew not which-staring at him through a black mask. The hands of the figure were as closely veiled from observation by a pair of thick, coarse gloves; and even the feet were sunk in enormous hob-nailed shoes, although the delicacy of the ankle, which peeped like a piece of exquisite sculpture from beneath her petticoat, seemed to indicate a conformation very dissimilar in size and shape.

Frederic could have spoken to Veronica, or any body else whose face was uncovered; but in the present emergency, he was quite at a loss. He stood staring for some time at the black mask, without opening his lips; but at length, feeling his situation to be somewhat awkward, more especially as he could see the eyes of the figure still glistening at him through the holes, he summoned a sudden resolution, and with rustic politeness presented the basket of wild fruit. A slight hissing sound came from the lips of the poultry-watcher, which he felt himself to be at liberty to interpret into "Je vous remercie ;" and with no little eagerness, she immediately raised the maskfar enough to enable her to put some of the fruit into her mouth.

The chin which this action discovered was such a chin as Frederic had never seen before in his life; it was small, and round, and so dazzlingly white!--but this might have been partly owing to the blackness of the mask. The mouth he only saw for an instant; but he had time enough to perceive that the lips were the most delicious in the world; and when these heaven-gates closed upon his fruit, he saw it disappear with a sigh of envy. Having presented his offering, however, and made his bow, he could devise no pretence for staying to see the goddess eat; and as she herself took no farther notice of him, after lingering for a moment, he made another bow, and took his leave.

This adventure, it will be conceived, formed abundant food for the imagination of a boy who had nothing to do all day long but to feed goats and dream. For the first time for a considerable period, the thoughts revived within him of what he might have been; and while the tears started involuntarily into his eyes at the idea of his present degradation, they were turned into a consoling sweetness by the reflection that he was perhaps in the precise situation of the beautiful incognita. That she was no peasant was evident, for peasants did not watch poultry in

masks. Who could she be? Assuredly not the relation of Madame de Neuillant, or she never could be consigned to so degrading a drudgery. At all events, she was fond of fruit, and this at least he had in his power to bestow; and he determined to take advantage of the pretext to see her as long as her appetite remained.

The next morning, Frederic was there by daylight. He laid himself down under a tree, in the precise spot where she had lain, and waited in great anxiety for her coming. At last she came he saw her afar off, and starting up pulled off his hat. Her walk was like some graceful dance; never was a woman so playful, nor a girl so dignified. She accepted the fruit as before; but continued still to eat with her mask on. There was nothing, however, of constraint or mystery in her manner of wearing it, and Frederic was half tempted to ask her to remove it altogether. For several mornings, this singular interview took place in the same manner; but at length from monosyllables, careless bends of the head, and other gestures, the incognita suddenly arrived at the familiarity of asking a question.

"Why were you not here yesterday?" she asked one morning, in surprise. Frederic was overwhelmed with delight, he knew not why; a warm glow broke over his face, and he stammered forth some excuse for an accident which he mentally vowed should never happen again. From this time he took courage, and before a week had elapsed, he and the masked girl were on speaking terms. The first use he made

of his privilege was to satisfy his curiosity.

"Why, mademoiselle," he asked, " do you always wear that black mask?"

"Because it is my aunt's desire."

"Your aunt! then you are the niece of Madame de Neuillant?"

"I have the misfortune to be so."

"And why does she wish you to wear a mask?"?

"Because she is unwilling to spoil my beauty by the occupation to which her avarice and bad temper condemn me." "Your beauty!" said Frederic, hesitating,-"are you so very beautiful?"

"That depends upon taste," replied the damsel," but you shall see;" and taking off her mask, and throwing back the hood of her cloak, she shook her long curls over her neck, and turned up her face to the critic.

The rustic chevalier was ready to die, without any metaphor, upon the spot; and if the description of a contempo

rary be faithful, he would have had some excuse for the weakness.

"She was tall and well-shaped," says Mademoiselle Scuderi, describing our heroine, under the name of Lyriane; "her size was not unbecoming, but rather conduced to set off her fine form; her complexion was delicately striking: her rich auburn locks flowed in natural ringlets; her nose was finely turned, and her mouth beautifully formed; her deportment was mild, noble, and yet lively; and to render her beauty more perfect and more enchanting, her eyes were incomparable. These were black, sparkling, tender, passionate, and full of fire; their expression had something indescribably attractive: the soft melancholy which they at times evinced, charmed and interested all beholders; while at others, the mixture of gayety and pleasantry which they expressed inspired all with joy and delight."

"What do you think of it?" asked the damsel.

"Your aunt was right," said Frederic, recovering with dif ficulty from the shock which such an apparition produced unavoidably in the nerves of a goatherd-" she was perfectly right to prevent as much damage as she could, both to yourself and others. But it nevertheless appears strange to me that Madame de Neuillant should be so anxious to preserve a beauty, the possessor of which she sends to watch her poultry."

"It must appear odd, indeed," said the poultry girl; "but the truth is, there is a prestige in our family on the subject of my beauty, which even avarice and meanness cannot get over. When my mother was once telling me of the fortunes of my ancestors, I interrupted her by asking, And what shall I be?' • What you will,' said my mother. Then I will be a queen was my reply; and from that moment, in the midst of all our misfortunes and degradations, my beauty-the only thing I possessed which could by possibility elevate me to the thronewas held religiously sacred." Frederic smiled gravely.

"And you too," said he, musing,-" had you ancestors, and misfortunes, and degradations?"

"Plenty plenty!" replied she, with a sigh; "and as it gives one relief to speak, and as speaking to you can be of no more consequence than if my audience was confined to the trees and stones among which you are born to live and die, tomorrow I will tell you my story."

Frederic was not greatly pleased with the mode in which this promise was made; however, he consoled himself with the idea that he too had a story to tell,

"Let us hear," said he," in the first place, this wonderful narration of the niece of the crusty old farmeress, Madame de Neuillant, and then she shall listen too, in her turn, to the fortunes of the family of the Chevalier de Belcour."

Frederic passed a sleepless night; and he was pacing backwards and forwards under the tree, and wondering at the unaccustomed laziness of the sun, long before either that luminary or the fair poultry-girl appeared. At last daylight and the black mask arrived, and the story was begun.

"My family," said the mask, " is one of the most ancient in the kingdom; but as I presume that you know little, and care less, about the antiquities of nobility, I shall merely mention, that my grandfather was Theodore Agrippe d'Aubigné, gentleman of the bedchamber to Henri IV."

"Was that all!" asked Frederic, with a sigh of relief.

"All!" exclaimed the damsel, tossing her head disdainfully; "this it is to relate history to goatherds! My father, Constant d'Aubigné having ruined his fortune by the extravagances which gentlemen of high birth are so liable to run into, formed the design of retrieving it by one of the projects to which men of genius resort, when meaner spirits take to the highway. He determined to proceed to Carolina, in the new world, on a colonizing adventure; and his merits being looked on with a jaundiced eye by his own court, he applied for assistance to the government of England. This being discovered, he was thrown into the prison of Trompette."

"What!" cried Frederic, "for applying abroad for the friendship which he sought in vain for at home!"

"True, shepherd," said the damsel; "but you know nothing of state polity. I do. In the prison of Trompette, my father, having nothing else to amuse himself with, fell in love with the daughter of the governor."

"Ah! that is something like a story! And she returned his passion?"

"Of course. Her family name was De Cardillac, and her father, the governor, was a gentleman of rank in the Bourdelois. By her assistance, the prisoner escaped-"

"Right! right! that is just the way!"

"Hush! He married her in the year 1627, and they at length fairly set out for Carolina. Things did not answer there so well as was expected; for men of noble families do not at once succeed in business; and in a few years they had the boldness to return to France, and were thrown into the prison of Niort, in Poitou. In that dungeon was I born, in 1635."

"You! in a prison! Oh, Jupiter! Were they not afraid when they saw you?"

Afraid? Why?"

"You must have looked so like a spirit in the darkness of the dungeon!"

"I was a prisoner for almost the first four years of my life; for although my mother might have enjoyed liberty had she chosen it, she yet preferred captivity with her husband. She suckled me herself-an act of attention in a woman of quality of which I am highly sensible. We at length obtained our enlargement, and set out for the island of Martinique. On the way, we were chased by an English frigate, and afterward by a storm; but as I was destined to eat wild berries in a mask on the farm of Neuillant, and relate my history to a goatboy, we arrived in safety at our destination. There, being left on the shore by the negligence of a servant, I was nearly devoured by a serpent; but if I tell every thing, I shall never have done.

66

My father succeeded this time in his projects; for some men of noble families learn business in time. Every thing prospered our overseers were vigilant, and as my father was vigilant too, they were honest; our negroes worked hard, and by the blessings of Heaven, their families increased so fast that we had as many slaves as there was work for them to do. My mother now had time to educate her children, and tell them stories-a great happiness for me; for I learned that my grandfather, Theodore Agrippe d'Aubigné, had been a friend of Queen Jane d'Albret and the King of Navarre, and afterward gentleman of the bedchamber to the latter when he became Henri Quatre. It was at this time I told my mother. that I should like to be a queen. The expression was repeated to our neighbours when they came to eat capons and drink wine and sangaree, and every body thought it very extraordinary, and extraordinarily ominous.

"At last my father died, and as his expenses had been somewhat more liberal than his income, we found ourselves in great embarrassment. The affair was not now how to send me to Paris to be educated, and to see if there were not any kings in the market. My mother was obliged to go there herself to look after some old debts, leaving in the mean time one of her children behind, as a pledge that she would return; and as boys are usually preferred to girls on a journey, even when the former have no idea of marrying queens, my brother went with her to France, and I remained in Martinique.