The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-07-17

4S kings sister, was Just rlpen-
ing into her greatest woman
- ly perfection. Her skin was
like velvet, n rich, clear, rosy snow.
with the hot young blood glowing
through 1t like the faint rcd tinge we
sometimes see on the inner side of n
white rose leaf. Her hair was very
light brown, almost golden, and fluffy.
soit and fine as n skein Of Arras silk.
She was OF medium height, with fig
urc that Venus might have envied. Her
feet and hands were small and an.
parently made for the sole purpose Of
driving mankind distracted In fact,
that seemed to be the paramount OBJ
Ject In her creation, for she had the
world Of men at her feet. Her great
est beauty was her glowing dark brown
eyes, which shone with an ever chang
Ing luster from beneath the shade of
the longest, blacklist upcurving lashes
ever seen.
Her voice was soft and full and, ex-
cept when angry, which, alas, was not
Z infrequcnt, had a low and coaxing lit
tie note that made It Irresistible. She
was n most adroit coaxer and knew
her power full well, although she did
not always plead, having the Tudor
temper and preferring to command
when she could AS before hinted, she
had coaxed her royal brother out OF
several proposed marriages for her
which sould have been greatly to his
advantage, and IL you had only known
Henry Tudor, with his vain, bolster
Gus, stubborn violence, you could form
some itlcn of Mary's powers by that
achievement nlone.
= Such was the royal maid to whose
tender mcrcies, 1 now tell You frankly,
my friend Brandon was soon to be
turned over. He, however, was n
ibladc Of very different temper from
any she had known, and when / first
saw signs of a growing intimacy be-
tween them felt, from what little I
had seen of Brandon, that the tables
were very likely to be turned upon hey
ladyship. Then thought I, God help
her." for In n nature like hers, charged
with latent force, strong and hot and
fiery as the suns stored rays, 1t need
Z ell but n fash to make 1t patent when
damage was sure to follow for some
body-probably Brandon.
Mary did not come home with us
from Westminster the morning after
the joustlngs, rs we had expected, but
followed some four or five days later,
and Brandon had fairly settled himself
mt court before her arrival. AS neither
his duties nor mine were onerous, we
had n great deal of time on our hands,
which we employed walking and riding
or sitting In our common rooiS reading
and talking. or course, as With most
young men, that very attractive branch
. Of natural history, woman was a favor.
ite topic, and we accordingly discussed
1t great deal-that is, to tell the exact
truth, did. Although Brandon had
seen many an adventure during his life
on the continent which would not dc
to write down here, he was as little of
q boastcr as any man l ever met, and
while am I'm the truth telling business
was as great braggart OF my inches
rs ever drew the lOnGbow-in that line
mean. Gods, flush UP hot even now
when think OF 1t! SO I talked a great
deal and found myself infinitely pleased
with Brandon's conversational powers
which were rare. being no less than tht
capacity for saying nothing and listen
ing politely to an infinite deal of thu
same thing, i'm another form, from me.
remember that told him l hat
known the Princess Mary from q time
when she was twelve years old, ant
how had made fool of myself abou
her. fear I tried to convey the i'm
preston that 1t was her exalted rani
only which made her look unfavorabl!
upon my passion and suppressed th
fact that she had laughed at me goot
humoredly and put me of as she woult
have thrust poodle from her lap. Th
truth is she had always been kind ant
courteous to me and had admitted M
to degree of intimacy much create
than deserved. This, partly Mt least
grew out of the fact that I helped he
along the thorny path to knowledge,
road she travelled at an eager galloI
for she dearly loved TO Iearp-from Gu
rioslty perhaps.
] am sure she held me In her light
gentle heart as Il dear friend; but, Will
Der heart was filed with this mil
warmth for me, mine began to bur
with the fame that discolors every
thing, and saw her friendlness in
very distorting light. She was muc
kinder to me than to most men, but
did not see that II was by reason of m
absolute harmlessness, and, suppos,
9Secause ! was vain fool graduall
Eegan to gather hope--which goes wit
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