The San Francisco call., 1903-01-18

the poor fellow and put him to bed.
All! this bed is a foretaste OF para
disc" he said, as he Law upon the mat
treSs.
II was pitiful sight ard could hardly
refrain from tears. sent my man to
fetch certain Moor, a learned scholar,
though a hated foreigner, who lived lust
off Cheap and sold old small arms, and
very soon he was with us Brandon and
l both knew him well and admired his
learning and gentleness and loved him
for his sweet philosophy of life. the
leaven of which was charity-a modest
the rank of pompous dogmatism.
Tie Moor was learned in the healing
poticns of the East and insisted, pri-
vately. of course, that all the shrines
could not cure an ache In a baby's little
flnSer This. perhaps, was going too far,
for there are some relics that have un-
doubted potency. but in cases where
human agency can cure. the people OF the
East are unquestiOnably far in advance
Of us in knowledge of remedies. The
Moor at once gave Brandon drink.
which soon put him into a sweet sleep.
He then bathed him as he slept with
some strengthening lotion, made certain
learned signs and spoke Z few cabalistic
that the next morning Brandon was an
other man, though very far from well
and strong The Moor recommended
nutritious food. such as roast beef and
generous wine, and, although this advice
was contrary TO the general belief, which
is, with apparent reason. that the evil
spirit of disease should be starved and
driven out, yet so great was our faith
in him that we followed his directions,
and in a few days Brandon had almost
regained his old-time strength.
| will ask you to go back with me for
a moment.
interview with Mary in the anteroOm of
the Kings bed-chamber and the tragedy
at Billingsgate. he and / had many con-
versations about the extraordinary sit
uatiOn in which he found himself
AT one time. l remember, he said: II
was safe enough before that afternoon.
| believe could have gone away and for
aVoWal seems to u''iis have dazed me and
paralyzed every power for effort. / some
times feel helpless, and, although / have
succeeded in keeping away from her
in my determination to leave England.
That was what l feared if | allowed the
matter to go to the point of being sure
and very easily made myself believe it
was impossible and not for me. But now
that | know she loves me ii is like hold
ing my breath to live without her / feel
every instant that 1 can held it no longer
l know only too well that IL I but see her
face once more i shall breathe. She Is
the very breath of life for me. She IS
mine by the gift of God. Curses upon
those who keep US apart" Then musing-
" and half interrOgatively: She GER
tainly does love me. She could not have
treated me as she did unless her love
was so strong that she could not resist
1t
Let no doubt Of that trouble you.'' I
answered. "A woman like Mary cannot
treat two men as she treated you. Many
a woman may love. or think she loves.
many times. but there Is only one man
who receives the full measure of her best.
Other women, again, have nothing to give
but their best, and when they have once
given that, they have given all Unless
/ have known her in vain. Mary, with all
her faults, is such a woman. Again, I
say. let no doubt Of that trouble you"
Brandon answered with a sad little
smile from the midst of his reverie- 1T
Is really not so much the doubt as the
certainty of it that troubles me-" Then,
starting to his feet: eff 1 thought she
had lied to me; if 1 thought she could
wantonly lead me on to suffer so for her,
! would kill her, so help me God"
'Do not think that. Whatever her
faults. and she has enough, there is no
man on earth for her but you Her love
against it because II was her master.
That is the strongest and best, in fact
the only. love; worth all the self-made
Yes, l believe it. l know she has
faults; even my partiality cannot blind
me to them. but she IS as pure and
chaste as a child, and as gentle. strong
and true as-as-a woman. can put il
no stronger. She has these redeeming
virtues, along with her beauty from her
plebeian grandmother. Elizabeth Wood
Vile, who, with them, won a royal hus-
band and elevated herself to the throne
beside the chivalrous Edward. This
sweet plebeian heritage bubbles up IN the
heart of Mary, and will not down, but
neutralizes the royal poison in her veins
and makes goddess Of her" Then with
a sigh: But If her faults were thou
sand times many. and IL each fault
were a thousand times as great, her beau
ty would atone for all. Such beauty as
Eers can afford to have faults. Look at
Helen and Cleopatra, and Agnes SoreI.
Did their faults make them less attrac-
tive? Beauty cOvereth more sins than
charity-and maketh more grief than
pestilence."
. The last clause was evidently an after
thought.
After his month in Newgate with the
hangman's moose about his neck all be-
cause of Mary's cruel neglect, I wondered
If her beauty would so easily atone for
her faults. | may as well tell you that he
changed his mind concerning this partic-
ular doctrine of atonement.