The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-05-13

her parlor for ard playing. But we
spent TWO evenings with only four of
us present prior to the disastrous
events which changed everything, and
Of which L am soon to tell you. Dur
ing these two evenings the "Sailor
Lass was I'm constant demand.
This pair, who should have remained
apart, met constantly In and about the
palace, and every glance added fuel to
the flame. Part of the time it was the
princess with her troublesome dignity,
and part OF the time 1t was Mary
simply Mary. Notwithstanding these
naughty moods, any one with half ar
eye could see that the princess was
gradually succumbing to the budding
woman; that Brandon's stronger ma
ture had dominated her with hat half
fear which every woman feels who
loves a strong man-stronger than her
se&.
One day the rumor spread through
the court that the old French king,
Louis XII, whose wife, Anne Of Brit
tany, had just died, had asked Mary's
hand In marriage. 1t vas this proba-
bly, which opened Brandon's eyes to
the fact that he had been playing with
the very worst sort of fire, and first
made him see that In spite Of himself,
and almost without his knowledge, the
girl had grown wonderfully sweet and
lear to him. He now saw his danger
and struggled to keep himself beyond
the spell of her pcrilous glances and
siren song. This modern Ulysses made
n mastcrful effort, but, alas, had no
ships to carry him away and no wax
with which to fill his ears. Wax is n
good thing, and no one should enter
the siren country without it. Ships,
too, are good, with masts to tie oneself
10 and sails and rudder and n gust Of
wind to watt II quickly past the Is
land. In fact, one cannot take too
many precautions when in those en-
chanted waters.
Matters began to look dark to me.
Love had dawncd in Mary's breast,
that was sure, and for the first time,
with all Its fierce sweetness; not that
1t had reached its noon, Or anything
like 1t. In truth, it might, I hoped, die
in the dawning, for my lady was as ca
PRECIOUS as n May day, but it was love
love as plain as the sun at rising.
She sought Brandon upon all occasions
and made opportunities to meet him
not openly, at any rate; not with Bran
don's knowledge, nor with any conniv-
ance on his part, but apparently caring
little what he or any one else might
see. Love lying in her heart had made
her a little more shy than formerly In
seeking him, but her straightforward
u-ov nf tokfnp whotavar cho wanted
made her transparent little attempts
at concealment very pathetic.
AS for Brandon, the shaft had en-.
tered his heart, too, poor fellow, as
surely as lovc had dawned in Mary's.
lie knew the hopeless misery such a
passion would bring him, and helped
the good Lord, In SO far as he could,
to answer his prayer and LEAD him not
into temptation. AS soon as he saw
the truth he avoided Mary as much as
possible.
AS 1 said, we had spent several even
ings with Mary after we came home
from Windsor, at all Of which her pref
erence was shown In every movement.
Some women are so expressive under
strong emotion that every gesture, q
turn Of the head, II glance of the eyes,
the lifting of n hand or the polse of the
body speaks with a tonn"r~ &c ~.
Quence, and such was Mary. Her eyes
would glow with a soft fire when they
rested upon him, and her whole person
told all too plainly what, In truth, 1t
seemed Ii did not care to hide. When
others were present, she would restrain
herself somewhat, but with only Jane
and myself she could hardly maintain
n seemly reserve. During all this time
Brandon remained cool and really
seemed unconscious Of his wonderful
attraction for her. 1t Is hard to under
stand why he did not see 1t, but I real
ly believe he did not. Although he
was quite at ease In her presence, too
much SO, Mary sometimes thought, and,
strangely enough, sometimes told him
In q fit of short lived, quickly repcnted
anger that always set him laughing,
yet there vas never a word or gesture
that could hint of undue familiarity.
After these last two meetings, al
though the invitations came frequent
ly, none was accepted. Brandon had
contrived to have his duties, ostensibly
at least, occsipy his evenings and did
honestly what his Judgment told him
was the one thing to do-that is, re-
main away from q fire that could give
no genial warmth, but was sure to
burn him to the quick. I saw this only
too plainly, but never q word Of 1t was
spoken between us.
The more I saw of this man the more
I respected him, and this curbing Of his
affections added to my already high es-
teen. The effort was Goubly wise in
Brandon's case. After a lime Mary
began to suspect his attempts to avoid
her, n she grew cold and distant
through pique. Her manner, however,
had no effect upon Brandon, who did
not or at least appeared not to, notice
1t. This the girl could not endure, and,
lacking strength to resist her heart,
soon returned to the attack.
Mary had not seen Brandon for near
ly w weeks and was growing anx-
fous, when one day she and Jane met
him In a forest walk near the river.
Brandon was sauntering along read
Ing when they overlook him. Jane told
me afterward that Mary's conduct up.
on coming up to him was pretty and
curious beyond the naming. At first
she was inclined to be distant and say
cutting things, but when Brandon be-
gan to grow FESTIVE under them and
showed signs of turning back she
changed front in the twinkling of an
y and was all sweetness. She laugh
ed and smiled and dimpled, as only she
could md yyaa full oP hriont olonoaa