The San Francisco call., 1903-01-18

shoes and hose and to the doublet
Mary laughed and blushingly said she
had a plan which she would secretly inn
part to Jane, but would not tell us She
whispered it to Jane, who. as serious a s
the Lord Chancellor, gave judgment. and
thought it would do We hoped so, but
were full of doubts.
This is all tame enough to write and
read about but l can tell you it was
sufficiently exciting at the time. Three
Of us at least were playing with that com
teal old fellow Death, and he gave the
game interest and point to hearts
content.
Through the thick time-layers of all
these years, 1 can still see the group as
we sat there haloed by a hazy cloud of
tear mist The figures rise before my
eyes young and fair and rich in life
and yet so pathetic in their troubled earn
estneSs that a great food of pity wells UP
in my heart for the poor young souls. so
danger bound and suffering, and withal
so daring and so recklessly confident in
nipotence of youth. All. If God had seen
hit in his infinite wisdom to save just one
treasure from the wreck of Eden. what
race cf thankful hearts this earth would
bear. had he saved us youth q one to
thereby compensate for every other i'll.
As 10 the elopement, ii was determined
that Brandon should leave Lond II the
following day for Bristol, and make all
arrange T19ents along the line. lie would
carry with him two bund Is, his WI and
Mary 5 clothing. and ieave EN- 10 re
taken UP when they should 90 a-shio-
board. Eight horses would be plosul. d:
four to be left as relay al an i'm b
tween Berkeley Cast e and Bristol and
four to be kept at the srendezvous some
two leagues the other side OF Berke ey
for the use of Brandon Mary ard the two
men from Bristol who were to act as an
escort on the eventfui night. There was
one disa greeabe little feature that we
could NOT nJOEi6p against entirely 4
eliminate. 1t WAS the fact that Jane and
] would be suspected as accomplices be-
fore the fact OF Mary eiopement; and. as
you know. to assist in the abduction of
princess is treason-for which there Is but
one remedy | thought ! had plan to
keep ourselves safe if | could only stif1e
for the once Jare's troublesome and Wig
orous tendency to preach the truth to all
peop.e. upon all subjects and al all times
and places. She promised to tell the story
] would drill into her, but | knew the
truth would seep cut in thousand ways
She toud no more hold 1t than a sieve
can hold water. We were playing for
great stakes. which, if | do say it, none
but the bravest hearts. bold and daring as
the truest knights of chiValry. would
think of trying fer. Nothing less than the
running away with the first princess of
the first royal blood of the world Think
of it! 1T aQpalls me even now Discovery
meart dea h to Cne Of US surslv-Brandon;
possibly to two others-Jane and me; GER
tainly, il James truthfulness should be-
SOAAiO blAAAoiAdSOoDANf 90 - was 81 apt W
After we had settled everything we
could think Of the girls took their leave:
Mary styling kissing Brandon at the door
l tried to induce Jane to follow her ladys
example, but she UNs as cool and distant
as the new moon
/ saw Jane again that night ard told her
in plain terms what | thought of her
eatment of me. told her ii was selfish
and unkind to take advantage of my love
for her and treat me so cruelty. / tod
h. ~ s L 4 i
blood she would tell me of her love. if
she had any, or let me know ii in some
way; and if she cared nothing for me
she was equally bound to be honest and
tell me plainly so that l would not waste
my time and energy in hopeless cause.
thought it rather clever in me TO force
her into position where her refusal to
tell me that she did not care for me would
drive her to half aVowal. OF course, I
had little fear of the former, or per-
haps, | should not have been so anxious
to precipitate the isue.
She did not answer me directly. but
said: From the way you looked at Mary
to-day | was led to think you cared little
for any other girls opinion"
''Ahi Miss Janei' cried ] joyfully: "I
have you at last; you are Jealous
Il give you to understand sir, that your
vanity has led you into a great mistake"
''As to your caring for me. or your jeal-
ousy? Which ?'' l asked seriously Adroit
wasn't that?
''As to the jealousy Edwin. There, now;
L thlnk that Is saying good deal. Too
much, she said pleadingly; but l got
something more before she left. even If it
was against her will; something that
made 1t almost impossible for me to hold
my feet to the ground.
Jane pouted, gave me a sharp little slap
and then ran away, but at the door she
turned and threw back a rare smile that
was priceless to me: for it told me she
was not angry; and furthermore shed an
Illuminating ray upon a fact which / was
blind not 10 have seen long before; that
is, that Jane was one of those girls who
must be captured vi ct arrnis.
Some women cannot be captured at ALL
they must give themselves: of this class
pre-emnently was Mary Others again
will meet you half way and kindly lend
helping hand; while some. like Jane, are
always on the run, and are captured only
by pursuit. They are usually we'll worth
the trouble. though and make dosile cap
tives. After that smile from the door L
felt that Jane was mine; all | had to do
was to keep off outside enemies, charge
upon her defenses when the times were
ripe and accept nothing short of her own
sweet self as ransom.
The next day Brandon paid his respects
to the King and Queen, made his adeus
to his friends and rode off alone to Bris-
to. You may be sure the King showed no
signs of undue grief al his departure.