means we should take for restoring our wasted fortunes, some said in jest
that the best plan would be for one of us to marry the beauty of
Dauphiny. I at once said that I would be the man to do it; the ideas was
a wild one, and a roar of laughter greeted my words. Her father was known
to be a stern and rigid man, and it was certain that he would not consent
to give his daughter to a spendthrift young noble like myself. When the
laughter had subsided I repeated my intention gravely, and offered to
wager large sums with all around the table that I would succeed.

"On the morrow I packed up a few of my belongings, put in my valise the
dress of a wandering troubadour, and taking with me only a trusty
servant, started for Dauphiny. It would be tedious to tell you the means
I resorted to to obtain the affections of the heiress. I had been well
instructed in music and could play on the lute, and knew by heart large
numbers of ballads, and could myself, in case of necessity, string verses
together with tolerable ease. As a troubadour I arrived at the castle
gate, and craved permission to enter to amuse its occupants. Troubadours
then, as now, were in high esteem in the south, and I was at once made a
welcome guest.

"Days passed, and weeks; still I lingered at the castle, my heart being
now as much interested as my pride in the wager which I had undertaken.
Suffice it to say, that my songs, and perhaps my appearance--for I cannot
be accused of vanity now in saying nature had been bountiful to me--won
my way to her heart. Troubadours were licensed folk, and even in her
father's presence there was nought unseemly in my singing songs of love.
While he took them as the mere compliments of a troubadour, the lady, I
saw, read them as serious effusions of my heart.

"It was only occasionally that we met alone; but ere long she confessed