Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-05-08

I0I Greenwich tue pTlucess anu
Brandon were together fire.
122&s quently. Upon several occa-
sions he was invited, with Others, to
her parlor for card playing. But we
spent two evenings with only four OF
us present prior to the disastrous
events which changed everything, and
Of which am soon to tell you. Dur
ing these two evenings the "Sailor
Lass" was in constant demand.
This pair, who should have remained
apart, met constantly in and about the
palace, and every glance added fuel to
the fame. Part of the time 1t was the
princess with her troublesome dignity.
and part of the time it was Mary
simply Mary. Notwithstanding these
naughty moods, any one with half an
eye could see that the princess was
gradually succumbing to the budding
woman; that Brandon's stronger ma
ture had dominated her with that half
fear which every woman feels who
loves q strong man-stronger than her
self.
One day the rumor spread through
the court that the old French king,
Louis XII, whose wife, Anne of Brit
tany, had Just died, had asked Mary's
hand in marriage. It was this proba-
bly, which opened Brandon's eyes to
the fact that he had been playing with
the very worst sort of fire, and first
made him see that in spite of himself.
and almost without his knowledge. the
girl had grown wonderfully sweet and
dear to him. He now saw his danger
and struggled to keep himself beyond
the spell of her perilous glances and
siren song. This modern Ulysses made
a masterful effort, but, alas, had no
ships to carry him away and no wax
with which to Gil his ears. Wax Is
good thing. and no one should enter
the siren country without 1t. Ships,
too, are good, with masts to tie oneself
to and sails and rudder and a gust OF
wind to watt one quickly past the is
land. In fact, one cannot take too
many precautions when in those en-
chanted waters.
Matters began to look dark to me.
Love had dawned in Mary's breast,
that was sure, and for the first time,
with all its fierce sweetness; not that
It had reached its noon, or anything
like 1t. In truth. it might, hoped, die
In the dawnlng, for my lady was as ca
PRECIOUS as a May day. but 1t was love
love as plain as the sun at rising.
She sought Brandon upon all occasions
and made opportunities to meet him
not openly, at any rate; not with Bran
don's knowledge, nor with any conniv-
ance on his part, but apparently caring
little what he or any one else might
see. Love lying in her heart had made
her a little more shy than formerly In
seeking him, but her straightforward
way of taking whatever she wanted
made her transparent little attempts
at concealment very pathetic.
As for Brandon, the shaft had en-
tered his heart, too, poor fellow, as
surely as love had dawned in Mary's.
He knew the hopeless misery such
passion would bring him, and helped
the good Lord, in so far as he could,
to answer his prayer and lead him not
into temptation. As soon as he saw
the truth he avoided Mary as much as
possible.
As l said, we had spent several even
ings with Mary after we came home
from Windsor, at all of which her pref
erence was shown in every movement.
Some women are SO expressive under
strong emotion that every gesture, a
turn of the head, glance Of the eyes,
the lifting Of hand or the poise of the
body speaks with tongue Of elo-
auence, and such was Mary. Her eyes
would glow with soft fire when they
rested upon him, and her whole person
told all too plainly what, in truth, 1t
seemed she did not care to hide. When
others were present, she would restrain
herself somewhat, but with only Jane
and myself she could hardly maintain
q seemly reserve. During all this time
Brandon remained cool and really
seemed unconscious of his wonderful
attraction for her. 1t is hard to under
stand why he did not see 1t, but l real
~ believe he did not. Although he
was quite at ease in her presence, too
much so, Mary sometimes thought, and,
strangely enough, sometimes told him
in a ut Of short lived. quickly repented
anger that always set him laughing,
yet there was never a word or gesture
that could hint Of undue familiarity.
After these last two meetings. al
though the invitations came frequent
", none was accepted. Brandon had
contrived to have his duties, ostensibly
at least, occupy his evenings and did
honestly what his judgment told him
was the one thing to do-that is, re-
main away from a fire that could give
no genial warmth, but was sure to
burn him to the quick. l saw this only
too plainly. but never word of it was
spoken between US.
The more / saw Of this man the more
l respected him. and this curbing Of his
affections added to my already high es-
teen. The effort was doubly wise In
Brandon's case. After q time Mary
began to suspect his attempts to avoid
her, and she grew cold and distant
through pique. Her manner, however.
had no effect upon Brandon, who did
not, or at least appeared not to, notice
It. This the girl could not endure, and.
lacking strength to resist her heart,
soon returned to the attack.
Mary had not seen Brandon for near
" two weeks and was growing anx-
ious, when one day she and Jane met
him in q forest walk near the river.