The San Francisco call., 1903-01-11
CHAPTER VII.
LOVES FIERCE SWEETNESS


LOVES FIERCE SWEETNESS
After we had all returned to Greenwich
the Princess and Brandon were toge ~
frequently. Upon several occasions s ns
vas invited. with others. to her parloI, ,I2 Ios
with only four of US present prior TO tne
disastrous events which changed ever
thing. and of which l am soon to tell you. :
Lass was in constant demand.
This pair, who should have remainso
apart. met constantly In and ABOUT w w
palace. and every glance added fuel 10 tne
flame. Part of the time it was the Prin1 5
cess with her troublesome dignity ana
Fart Of the time IL was Mary-shmply n
Notwithstanding these naughty mooos,
any one with half an eve could see thAt
the Princess was gradually suecum olng
stronger nature had dominated her with
that half fear which every woman leels
who loves a strong man-stronger thah
one day the rumor spread through the
court that the old French King. Louis
XII, whose wife. Anne OF Brit any, had
Tiase. hss D'e it nav vas A this, probabiy. 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 sroWn wonderr ae
his danger, and struggled to keep himself
beyond the spell Of her perilous Elances
and siren song: This modern Ulysses S
q
ships to carry him away and no wax with
which to fill his ears. Wax is a good
thing, and no one should enter the Siren
with masts to tie ones self to. and sails
and rudder, and a gust OF wind 10 Wa1t
one quickly past the island. In fact, one
can not take too many precautions when
In those enchanted waters.
Matters began to look dark TO me, Love
had dawDed in Mary's breast, that was
sure, and for the first time. with all its
fierce sweetness Not that 1t had reached
it's noon, or anything like IT. In truth. II
might. hoped die in the dawn!ng, for
my lady was as capricious as May day;
but IT was love-love as plain as the sun
at rising She sought Brandon upon az
him; not openly-at any rate, not with
Brandon's knowledge, nor with any CON
nivanee on his part but aPPareIntiy sI1 y,Sa5+ GAR
see. Love wing in her heart had made
her little more shy than formerly In
seeking him. but her straightforward way
of taking whatever she wanted made her
transparent little attempts at concealment
AS for Brandon, the shaft hadNentered
love i had dawned in Mary's. but there was
this difference: With our Prtncess-at
least so thought at the time-the sun Of
heaven and glow with the fervent ardor
Of high noon-for her blood was warm
with the spark OF her grandfather,s fire
and then sink into the west and make
room for another sun tomorrow. But with
Rrandon's stronger nature the sun would
go till noon and there would burn for LIE
It's noon with Brandon, either, since he
had set his brain against his heart. and
had done what he could to stay the all
consuming orb at its dawning. He knew
the hopeless misery such a passion would
bring him, and helped the good Lord.
II so far as he could, to answer his
prayer and lead him net into tempta-
ton. AS soon as he saw tn, truth he
avoided Mary much as possible.
AS 1 said. we had spent several even
ings with Mary after we had come 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, turn
of the head, a glance OF the eyes. the
lifting of a hand or poise Of the body.
speaks with a tongue Of eloquence, and
such was Mary Her eyes would glow
with a soft fire when they rested upon
him. and her whole person told all too
plainly what in truth ii seemed she did
not care to hide. When others were pres
ent she would restrain herself somewhat.
but only with Jane and myself she could
hardly maintain a seemly reserve. Dur
ing all this time Brandon remained cool
and really seemed unconscious of his
wonderful attraction for her. 1t is hard
to understand why he did not see IL.
but really believe he did not. Although
he wss quite at ease in her presence
too much so. Mary sometimes thought
and strangely enough sometimes told
him in fit Of short-lived quickly renent-
ed anger that always set him laughing,
yet there was never a word or gesture
that could hint of undue familiarity. II
would have probably met rebuff from the
princess part of her; for with a perver-
sity. both royal and feminine she want
ed all the freedom for herself In short
like any other woman. she would rather
love than be loved, that is, until sur
render day should come: then Of course
After these two last meetings, although
the invitations came frequently, none was
accepted. Brandon had contrived to have
his duties, ostensibly. at least, occupy his
Judgment told him was the one thing
to do: that Is, remained away from a
fire that could give no. genial warmth.
1 saw this only too plainly. but never
word of 1t was spoken between US.
The more I saw of this man the more
I respected him; and this curbing of his
TEEN. The effort was doubly wise in
Brandon's case. Should love with his
intense nature reach its height his reek-
these two would inevitably try to span
the impossible gulf between them. when
Brandon, at least, would go down In the
attempt His trouble, however. did not
great deal OF his brightness and sparkle
undimmed by what must have been an
ache In his heart Though he tried with
tie Of Mary as possible, their meeting
once in a while could not be avoided,
especially when one OF them was al
ways seeking to bring 1t about After a
time Mary began to suspect his attempts
to avoid her, and she grew cold and dis
tant through pique. Her manner how
ever, had no effect upon Brandon, who
did not, or at least appeared not to no.
ticc II. This the girl could not endure
and lacking strength to resist her heart
soon returned to the attack
Mary had not seen Brandon for nearly
two weeks. and was growing anxious
when one day she and Jane met him
in forest walk near the river. Brandon
was sauntering along reading when they
overlook him. Jane told me afterward
that Mary's conduct upon coming UP to
him was pretty and curious beyond the
naming. At first she was inclined to be
distant and say cutting things. but when
Brandon began to grow restive under
them and showed signs Of turning back
she changed front in the twinkling Of an
eve and was all sweetness. She laughed
and smiled and dimpled as only she
could. and was full of bright glances
and gracious words.
She tried a hundred little schemes to
get him to herself for a moment-the
hunting Of wild flower or a four-ieaved
clover or the exploration of some little
nook in the forest toward which she
would lead him-but Jane did not at first
take the hint. and kept close at her heels