The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-05-27

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A narrow jutting Of the wall, a foot
or two In width, n sort Of flying but.
trcss, gave him Il little advantage, and
up into the slight shelter of the corner
thus formed he thrust the girls and
with his back to them faced his un-
equal foe with drawn sword. Fortu-
nately the position allowed only one
hOrsemnn to attack them. Two men on
foot would have been less In each 9th
er's way and much more effective. The
men, however, stuck to their horses,
and one of them pressed the attack,
striking at Brandon most viciously. 1t
being dark and the distance deceptive,
the hOrscman's sword at last struck the
wall, II fash of sparks flying in It's
trail, and lucky 1t was or this story
would have ended here. Thereupon
Brandon thrust his sword into the
horses throat, causing 1t to rear back
ward, plugging and lunging into the
street, where 1t fell, holding It's rider
by the leg against the cobblestcnes of
n little gutter.
A cry from the fallen horseman
brought his companion 10 his side and
gave Brandon an opportunity to escape
with the girls. or this he took nd
vantage, you may be sure, for one of
his notices was that the greatest fool
In the world Is lie who does not early
In life learn how and when to run.
In the light of the sparks from the
sword stroke upon tho wall, brief as
1t was, Brandon recognized the face
Of Buckingham, from which the mask
had fallen. or this he did not speak
to any one till long afterward, and his
silence was almost his undoing.
How often a word spoken or unspo-
ken may have the very deuce in it
either way!
The girls were nearly dead from
fright, and in order to make any sort
Of progress Brandon had to carry the
princess and help Jane until he thought
they were out Of danger. Jane soon
recovered, but Mary did not seem anx-
ious to walk and lay with her head
upon Brandon's shoulder, apparently
contented enough.
In a few minutes Jane said: "If you
can walk now, my lady, 1 think you
had better. We shall soon be near
Fishmonger's hall, where some one Ia
sure to be standing at this hour"
Mary said nothing in reply to Jane,
but as Brandon fell n step or two be-.
hind at a narrow crossing whispered:
Forgive me. forgive me. I will do
any pepance you ask. | am unworthy
to speak your name. l owe you my
life and more-and more a thousand
times" At this she lifted her arm
and placed her hand upon his cheek
and neck. She then learned for the
first time that he was wounded, and
the tears came softly as she slipped
from his arms to the ground. She
walked beside him quietly for n little
time, then, taking his hand In both of
hers, gently lifted it to her lips and
laid 1t upon her breast. Half an hour
afterward Brandon left the girls at
Brldeweil House, went over to the
bridge where he had left his horse at
q hostelry, and rode down to Green.
witch.
So Mary had made her trip to
Grpuche's, but 1t was labor worse than
lost. Grouche had told her nothing
she wanted to know, though much that
he supposed she would like to learn.
He had told her that she had many
lovers, q fact which her face and form
would make easy enough to discover.
He Informed her also that she had q
lawborn lover, and In order to put a
little evil In with the good fortune and
give what he said an air Of truth he
added to Mary's state Of unrest more
thnn he thought by telling her that her
lOwborn lover was false. He thought
to fiatter her by predicting that she
would soon marry a very great prince
or noblemnn, the indications being I'm
favor of the former, and in place of
ILLS making her happy she wished the
wretchcd sOothsayer in the bottomless
pit-hc and all his prophecies; herself,
too, for going to him. His guesses
were pretty shrcwd-that is, admitting
he dfd not know who Mary was, which
she at least supposed was tho case; 40
Mary wept that night and moaned and
moaned because she had rome to
G%rouche's, 1t had added infinitely to
tho pain OF which her heart was al.
ready too full and made her thorough.
" wretched and unhappy.
w.