The San Francisco call., 1903-01-18
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE sIREN COUNTRY.

Brandon which inspired desire TO make
some amends for his harsh treatment
This he could not Do 10 any great extent.
on Buckingham account, least, not
until the London loan was In his couers.
but the fact that Brandon was going 70
NeW spain So soon and would ne Guy 9L
the way, both Of MaTy's eyes and Mary
marriage, stimulated that rare Hover IN
Henry heart a good resolve. and Bran
don was offered his old quarters with
me until such time as he should sail for
New Spain.
He had never abandoned this plan. and
now that matters had taken this turn
with Mary and the King his resolution
was stronger than ever, In that th9
scheme held two recommendations and a
possibility.
The recommendation were. first. Il
would take him away from Mary, with
whOm-When out OF the inspiring inHu-
ence Of her buoyant hopefuiness-he knew
marriage to be utterly tmpoasible; and.
second. admitting and facing that impos-
Sibttty, he might find at least partial re-
lief from his heartaChe in the stirring
events and adventures Of that far away
land OF monsters, dragons. savages ana
a very family burning flame OF hope held
out the still more family gllmmering
chance that fortune, finding him there
almost alone. might, for lack OF another
lover. smile upon him by way OF squaring
accounts. She might lead him 20 cav
ern Of gold. and gold would do anything
even, perhaps. purchase so priceless y
treasure a. a certain Princess OF the blood
royal He did not, however. dwell much
on this possibility but kept the delight
ful hope we'll neutralized with a constant
~ present sense of its improbabnity. in
order to save the pain OF a long fail when
disappointment should come.
Brandon at once accepted the Kings
offer OF lodging in the palace. for now that
he felt sure of himself In the matter OF
New Spain, and his separation from
Mary, he lOnged TO see as much as pos
sible of her before that light went out
forever, even though fl were playing with
death itself to do So.
81 n
during this period that IL affected me like
a cOntagiOn.
IT did, not make NOPE OF him. but
came in spasms that almost drove him
wild. He would at times pace the room
and cry out: "Jesut Caskoden what
shall I do? She viii be the wife OF the
French King, and 7 shall sit I'm the will
derness and try every moment 20 imagine
what she is doing and thinking I shall
md the bearing OF Paris, and look in
her direction until my brain melts IN my
effort 10 see her and then ] shall Won
der in the woods a suffering imbecile.
feeding on roots and nuts. Would TO God
one of US might die. II II were not self
ish. should wish I might be the one"
1 said nothing In answer to these out
bursts. as had no consolation to offer.
We had two or three OF our little meet
ings Of four dangerous as they were at
which Mary. feeling that each time she
saw Brandon might be the last, would sit
and look at him with glowing eyes that
in turn softeled and burned as she spoke.
She did not talk much. but devoted all
her time and energies to looking with her
whole soul. Never before or since was
there a girl so much in love. A young
girl thoroughly in love Is the most beau
tfful object on earth-beautful even IN
uglineSs. Imagine, then, what II made OF
Maryl
Growing partly. perhaps. out Of his un-
attainability-for he was as far out OF
her reach as she out Of his-she had long
since begun TO worship him She had
learned to like him 80 well, and his va
liant defense OF her in Billingsgate. to-
r--f4r 0rT F--1.- A. =
fusing TO compromise her IN order TO
save himself. had presented him to her
in so noble light that she had come to
look up to him as her superior Her sur
render had been complete. and she found
in IL a Joy far exceeding that OF any vic
tory or triumph she could imagine.
would be the outcome Of II all. Mary
was one woman in ten thousand, so full
was she of feminine force and villa
but to which in the end we always sue
cumb.
Like most women, the Princess was not
much given to analysis: and. I think
cretly felt that this matter Of so great
moment to her would as everything elso
always had, eventually turn itself to her
to her mind, there could be no doubt
about it; fate was her friend always had
been and surely always would be.
With Brandon II was different; expe-
rience as to how the ardentIy hoped for
usually turns out to be the sadly regret
ted together with a thorough face-tO-
face analysis Of the situation, showed him
the truth, all too clearly. and he ionged
for the day when he should go, a
sufferer longs for the surgeons knife that
is to relieve him OF an aching limb. The
hopelessness OF the outlook had for the
time destroyed nearly all OF his comba-
tiveness and had sOftened his nature al
most to apathetic weakness. IL would do
no good to struggle in a boundless faith
omless sea; he was ready to sink and
was going to New Spain to hope no more
u - hot - ar4k
the separation but this did not trouble
her as much as one would suppose. and
she content to let events take their
own way, hoping and believing that IN
the end II would be hers. Events. how
ever, continued in this wrong course 50
long and persistently that at last the
doubtrand as time few on and matters
evinced a disposition TO grow worse In
stead OF better she gradually, Ike the
the fact that there was something wrong:
a cog loose somewhere In the complicated
machinery Of fate-the fate which had
always been her tried, trusted and obe-
The trouble began IN earnest with the
discovery Of our meetings IN Lady Mary's
parlor. There was nothing az all unus-
young folk frequently spent their even
ings with her. but we knew we'll enough
that the unusual element In our parties
was their exceeding snallness- COM
pany Of eight ten young persons was
well enough, although II, OF course Gre
ated jealousy on. the part OF those who
were left out-but four-two OF each sex
made a difference IN kind however
much we might insist II was only IN de-
gree. And this we soon learned was tha
Kings opinion.
You may be sure there was many a
jealous person about the court ready to
carry tales, and that 1t was impOssfbla
long to keep our meetings secret among
such a host as then lived in Greenwich
palace
One day the Queen summoned Jane and
put her to the question. Now lana
thought the truth was made onlv 10 be
told. a fallacy into which many good peo-
pie have fallen, to their utter destruc-
tioni since the truth, like every other
good thing. may be abused
Well Jane told it all In a moment. and
Catherine was 50 horrifed that she was
like to faint She went with her hair
lifting horror to the King, and poured
into his ears a tale OF imprudence and
debauchery we'll calculated to start his
righteous virtue prompted fndieuatiou
into a threatening flame
Mary. Jane, Brandon and myself were
at once summoned 10 the presence OF
both their Majesties and soundly reprf-
manded Three of were ordered to
leave the court before we could sneak a