The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-06-17

RESessS down to Windsor and give
G&Gg vent to my indignation to-
ward the girls, but the more 1 thought
about 1T the surer l felt there had
somehow been Il mistake. l could not
bring myself to believe that Mary had
deliberately permitted matters to go
to such an extreme when Ii was in her
power to prevent 1t. She might have
neglected her duty for n day or two,
but sooner or later her good impulses
always came to her rescue, and with
Jane by her side to urge her on l was
almost sure she would have liberated
Brandon long ago, barring a blunder Of
some sort.
So L did not go to Windsor until a
week after Brandon's release, when
the king asked me to go down with
him, Wolsey and De Longueville, the
French ambassador special, for the
purpose Of officially offering to Mary
the hand of Louis Mi. IL the honor
of becoming queen of France.
The princess had known of the pro-
jected arrangement for many weeks,
but had no thought Of the present for
ward condition of affairs or h would
have brought her energies to bear upon
Henry long before. She could not
bring herself to believe that her broth
er would really force her into such
Indebtedness, and possibly he would
never have done SO, much as he de-
sired it from the standpoint Of personal
ambition, had it not been for the petty
excuse Of that fatal trip to G%rouche's.
All the circumstances of the case
We're such as to make Mary's marriage
Il veritable virgin sacrifice. Louis was
an old man, and an old Frenchman at
that, full of French notions Of morali-
ty and immortality, and, besides, there
were objections that cannot be writ
ten, but of which Henry and Mary had
been fully informed. She might as well
marry q leper. Do you wonder she was
full of dread and fear and resisted with
the desperation Of death?
SO Mary, the person most Interested,
was about the last to learn that the
treaty had been signed.
Windsor was nearly eight leagues
from London and DIT that time was &C.
cupied only by the girls and a few old
ladies and servants, so that news did
not travel fast in that direction from
the city. 1t is also probable that, even
If the report of the treaty and Bran
don's release had reached Windsor, the
persons hearing 1t would have hesitat.
ed to repeat it to Mary. However that
may be, she had no knowledge of either
until she was informed of the fact that
the king and the French ambassador
would be at Windsor on n certain day
to make the formal request for her
hand and to offer the gifts Of King
Louis.
l had no doubt Mary was in trouble
and felt sure she had been making af-
fairs lively about her. I knew her suf-
fering was keen, but was glad of it in
view of her treatment of Brandon.
a day or two after BranGon's liberia
ton l had begun to speak to him of the
girls, but he interrupted me with a
frightful oath: "Caskoden, o are my
friend, but if you ever mention their
names again in my hearing you are
my friend no longer. l will curse your
/ was frightened, so much stronger
did his nature show than mine, and l
took good care to remain silent on that
subject until-but l am going too fast
again. l will tell you of that here
after.
Upon the morning appointed the
king, Wolsey, Dc L%ongueville and my
self, with n small r%etlnue, rode over to
Windsor, where we found that Mary,
anticipating us, had barricaded herself
in her bedroom and refused to receive
the announcement. The king went up
stairs to o the fair young besleged
through two inches Of oak door and to
induce her If possible to come down.
We below could plainly hear the king
pleading in the voice of Il Bnshan bull,
and 1T afforded us some amusement
behind our hands. Then his majesty
grow angry and threatened to break
down the door, but the fair besieged
maintained Il most persistent and pro-
yoking silence throughout it all and
allowed him to carry out his threat
without so much as a whimper. He
was thoroughly angry and called to us
to come up to see him compel obedi-
ence from the self willed hussy," a task
the magnitude of which he under
rated.
The door was soon broken down, and
the king walked I'm first, with De Tongue
vic anu NOISey next, anu tue rest
Of us following In close procession, But
we marched over broken walls to the
most ~laughable defeat ever suffered by
besieging army. Our foe, though small,
was altogether too fertile in eXpedients
for us. There seemed no way to con-
quer this girl. Her resources were so
~inexhaustible that in the moment Of
your expected victory success was
turned into defeat; nay, more, ridic-
ulous disaster.
We found Jane crouching on the floor
in n corner half dead with fright from
the noise and tumult, and where do
you think we found her mistress2
Frightened Not at all. She was ly-
ing in bed with her face to the wall as
cool as a January morning, her cloth
Ing I'm Il little heap i'm the middle of the
room.
Without turning her head, she exo
claimed: "Come in, brother. You are
quite welcome. Bring I'm your friends.
1 am ready to receive them, though not
I'm court attire, as you see" And she
thrust her bare arm straight up from
the bed to prove her words. You
should have seen the Frenchmnn's lit
tie black eyes gloat On its beauty.
Mary went on, still looking toward
the wall, al will arise and receive you
all informally If you will but wait"
This disconnected the imperturbable
EnnrU xUl,n Nyno ol,ntti nj lfd xyttof nnh