The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-08-19
CHAPTER XXI.

| KEYEE2l WIFI uer uncle, Aoru DolnB-
8E3S&&y broke, having determined
never to permit her to come within
sight OF King Henry again IL I could
prevent 1t. I then went up to London
with the twofold purpose of seeing
Brandon and resigning my place as
master Of the dance.
When / presented myself to the king
md told him of my marriage, he flew
into n great passion because we had
not asked his consent. One Of his
whims was that every one must ask
his permission to do anything-to eat
or sleep or say ones prayers, especially
to marry, IL the lady was Of n degree
entitled to be a kings ward. Jane,
fortunately, had no estate, the kings
father having stolen 1t ffom her when
she was an infant; so all the king could
do about our marriage was to grumble,
which I let him do to his hearts con.
tent.
II wish also to thank your majesty
for the thousand kindnesses you have
shown me-" l said, "and, although 1t
grleves me to the heart to separate
tender my resignation as your master
| VI uuICt. ODOh thlo III NUo hihN
enough to express regret Az ask me
to reconsider. but I stood y ground
firmly, and then and there ended my
official relations with Henry Tudor for
ever.
Upon taking my leave OF the king I
sought Brandon, whom I found COM
fortably ensconced In u old quarters,
he preferring them to much more pre-.
tentious apartments offered hin In an
other part Of the palace. The king had
given him some new furnishings for
them, and, as I was to remain a few
days to attend to some matters Of busi-
ness, he invited me to share his com-
fort with him, and I gladly did 30.
Those few days with Brandon were
my farewell to individuality. There
after I was to be 80 mysteriously in
termingled with Jane that / was only
q part and n small part at that, / fear
of two. / did not, of course, regret
the change, since 1t vas the n thing
in life i most longed for, yet the period
was tlnged with n faint sentiment Of
pathos Mt parting from the old life that
had been 80 kind to me and which I
was leaving forever. 1 say I did not
/ AS6iCt III uhNs thouSh u Wuo ACoNlh8
my old haunts and companions and
friends so dear to me, 1 was finding
them all again in Jane, who was friend
rs well as wife.
Mary's letter was In one of my boxes
which had been delayed, and Jane was
to forward 1t to me when 1t should
come. When / told Brandon of 1t, I
dwelt with emphasis upon it's bulk,
and he, Of course, was delighted and
impatient to have 1t. 1 had put the
letter in the box, but there was some
thing else which Mary had sent to him
that I had carried with me. 1t was a
sum Of money sufficient to pay the debt
against his fathers estate and, in adj.
dltion, to buy some large tracts of land
adjoining. Brandon did not hesitate
to accept the money and seemed glad
that 1t had come from Mary, she, doubt
less, being the only person from whom
he would have taken it.
One Of Brandon's sisters had mar
ried a rich merchant at Ipswich, and
another was soon to marry a Scotch
gentleman. The brother would prob
ably never marry, SO Brandon would
eventually have to take charge of the
estates. In fact, he afterward lived
there many years, and, as Jane and I
had purchased n little estate near by,
which had been generously added to
by James uncle, we saw n great deal
of him. But I am getting ahead of my
story again.
The D'Angouleme complication trou-
bled me greatly, notwithstanding my
faith In Mary, and although / had re-
solved to say nothing to Brandon about
1T, 1 soon told him plainly what ]
thought and feared.
He replied with q low, contented lit
tie laugh.
"Do not fear for Mary. I do moi.
That young fellow is Of different stuff,
1 know, from the old king, but I have
all faith In her purity and ability to
take care Of herself. Before she left
she promised to be true to me, what
ever bcfell, and 1 trust her entirely.
l am not so unhappy by any means as
one would expect. Am 1? And 1 was
compelled to admit that he certainly
was not.
So 1t seems they had met, as Jane
and 1 suspected, but how Mary mapag-
ed 1t 1 am sure I cannot tell. She beat
the very deuce for having her own
way, by hook or by crook. Then came
the bulky letter, which Brandon pounc-
ed upon and eagerly dcvourcd. / leave
out most of the sentimental passages,
which, like effervcscent wine, lose fla
vor quickly. She said, In part:
To Master Brandon:
Sir and Dear Friend, Greeting-Afte
leaving thee. long time had 1 that mighty
grief and dole within my heart that II
was like TO break, for my separation from
thee was 60 much harder to bear even
than 1 had taken thought OF. and I also
doubted me that I could live in Paris, as
I did wish, Sleep rested not upon my
weary eyes. and of n very deed could I
neither cat nor drink, since food distasted
me like n nausea and wine did stranglc
In my throat. This lasted through my
journey hithcr, which I did prolong upon
many pretexts nearly two months, but
when 1 did at last rest mine eyes for the
first time upon this King Louis face I
we'll knew that I could rule him. and
when i did arrive and had adjusted my
self In this Paris / found 1t so easy that
my heart leaped for very Joy. Beauty
goeth 80 far with this infiammable people
that easily do / rule them all, and truly
doth a servile subject make q sharp, capri
cious tyrant. Thereby the misfortune which
hath come upon us is of SO much less evil
and - so like to be of such short duration
that ! am almost happy. but for lack OF
thee, and sometimes think hat after all
It may verify be a blessing unseen.
This new. unexpected face upon our
trouble hath so driven the old gnawins
ache out of my heart that I love to be