your dress as little as a lace veil would a beggar's attire; you
must lay your fine manners aside for a short time, for, with them,
you would appear to the village beauties we may meet like a monkey,
and they would laugh at instead of kissing you."

"So we are to meet country beauties," said Colonel Balby, no longer
able to suppress his curiosity. "Tell me, sire, where are we going,
and what are we going to do? I shall die of curiosity."

"Make an effort to die," said the king, gayly; "you will find it is
not so easy to do as you imagine. But I will torture you no longer.
You ask what we are going to do. Well, we are going to amuse
ourselves and seek adventures. You ask where we are going. Ask that
question of the sparrow that sits on the house-top--ask where it is
going, and what is the aim of its journey. It will reply, the next
bush, the nearest tree, the topmost bough of a weeping willow, which
stands on a lonely grave; the mast of a ship, sailing on the wide
sea; or the branch of a noble beech, waving before the window of a
beautiful maiden. I am as incapable of telling you the exact aim and
end of our journey, friend, as that little bird would be. We are as
free as the birds of the air. Come! come! let us fly, for see, the
little sparrow has flown--let us follow it."

And with a beaming smile illuminating his countenance, like a ray of
the morning sun, the king took the arm of his friend, and followed
by his servant and cabinet-hussar, Deesen, left the pavilion.

As they stood at the little gate of the garden, the king said to
Deesen,