The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-07-15

zA1 departure. Mary, with the
EnSa9SS kings consent, organized a
@a$9 small party to go over TO
Windsor fol- a few weeks during the
warm weather.
There were ten or twelve of us, in
Guiding two chaperons, the old Earl of
Hartford and the dowager Duchess of
Kent. Henry might as we'll have sent
along a pair of spaniels to act as chap
c%rons-it would have taken an army
to guard Mary alone-and to tell you
tho ruth our old chaperons needed
watching more than any of us. 1t was
scandalous. Each of them had n touch
of govt, II when they made wry
faces 1t was a standing inquiry among
us whether they were lccring at each
other or felt n twingc-whcthcr 1t was
their feet or their hearts that troubled
them.
Mary led them a pretty life Mt all
times, even at home In the palace, and
l know they would rather have gone
off with Il pack OF imps than with us.
The induccment was that 1t gave them
better opportunities to be together, an
arrangement connived at by the queen,
L think, and they were satisfied. The
earl had a wife, but lie fnnclcd the old
dowagcr and she fancied him, and
probably the wife fanclcd somebody
else. so they were all happy. 1t great
ly amused the young people, you may
be urc, and Mary said, probably with
out telling the exact truth, that every
night she prayed God to pity and for
give their uglincss. One day the prln-
cess said she was becoming alarmed.
Their ugliness was so Intense she fear
cd 1t might be contagious and spread.
Then, with a most comical seriousness,
she added:
Mon Dieu, Sir Edwin, what IL 1
should catch 1t? Master Charles would
not take me-"
mo danger Of that, my lady. He Is
too devoted to see anything but beauty
In YOU, no matter how much you might
change"
do you really think so? He says
so little about It that sometimes 1 al
most doubt
Therein she spoke the secret of Bran
don's success with her, Mt least in the
beginning, for there Is wonderful po-
tency In the stimulus of Il healthy lit
tie doubt.
We had n delightful cantcr over to
Windsor, I riding with Mary most of
the way. / vas not aversc to this ar
rangcmcnt, as 1 not only relished Ma
rvs mirth and J~oyousness, which were
ut their height, but hoped 1 might give
my little Lady Jane n twinge or two
OF jealousy, %perchoncc to f~ertilize her
sentiments toward me.
Mary talked and laughed and sang,
for her soul was n fountain OF glad.
ness that dubbed up the instant pres
sure was removed. She spoke OF little
but our last trip over this same road,
and, as we passed objects on the way,
told me of what Brandon had said Mt
this place and that. She laughed and
dimplcd eNqulsltcly I'm relating how
she had deliberately made opportuni-
Ties for him to flatter her until Mt last
he smiled in her face and told her she
was the most beautiful creature liv-
Ing, but that, after all, beauty was as
beauty did"
That made me angry" said she. ~
pouted for awhile and two or three
times was on the point Of Diminishing
him, but thought better of it and asked
him plainly wherein l did SO much
amiss. Then what do you think the
%impudcnt fellow saidi'
81 cannot guess"
He said, oh, there Is so much 1t
would take q lifetime to tell it,
This made me furious, but I could
not answer, and n moment later he
said, Nevertheless 1 should be only
too glad to undertake the task
"The thought never occurred to Ell
thcr of us then that he would he taken
at his word. Bold? I should think he
was! / never saw anything like 1t! I
bavc not told you n tenth part Of what
he said to me that day. He said any
thing lie wished, and 1T seemed that I
could neither stop him nor rctaliate.
Half the time L was angry and half
the time amused, but by the time we
cached Windsor there never was n
girl more hopclcssly and desperately in
love than Mary Tudor" And she
laughed as If 1t were n huge joke on
Mary.
She continued: "That day settled
matters with mo for MI time. I don't
know how ho did 1t. Yes, l do" And
she launched forth into an account of
Brandon's projections, which I found
somewhat dull, and so would you.
We remained n day or two mt Wind
sor and then. over the objections of our
clapcrons, moved OH to Berkeley cas-
tie, where Margaret Of Scotland was
spending the summer.
We had another beautiful ride ND
the dear old Thames to berkeley, but
Mary had grown serious ana saw none
of it.
On the afternoon of the appointed
day the princess suggested a hawking
party. and We set out In the direction
OF ID rendezvous. Our party consist
cd of myself, three other gentlemen
and three ladies' besides Mary. Jane
did not 30. ] was afraid to trust her.
She wcpt and with difficulty forced
ii6rself TO say something about a head
ache, but tile rest of the inmates OF
the castle OF course had ITO thought
that possibly they were taking their
last look upon Mary Tudor.
Think who this girl was we were
running away withi What reckless
fools we were not to have seen the ut
ter hopelessncss, certain failure and
deadly peril of our act; treason black
as Plutonian midnight. But Providence
seems to have mn especial care for fools,
while wise men are left to care for
Themselves, and 1t does look as if safe.
ty lies I'm folly.
We rode OIL and on. and although l
took two Occaaiona I'm tIp prnaonoo ,of