When Knighthood Was in Flower | Page 8

ever since he was a boy, and for all he was so much a man of
the world, yet had he as fresh and boyish a heart as if he had just come
from the clover fields and daisies. He seemed almost diffident, but I
soon learned that his manner was but the cool gentleness of strength.
Of what use, let me ask, is a friend unless you can unload your heart
upon him? It matters not whether the load be joy or sorrow; if the
former, the need is all the greater, for joy has an expansive power, as
some persons say steam has, and must escape from the heart upon some
one else.
So Brandon told me of his hopes and aspirations, chief among which
was his desire to earn, and save, enough money to pay the debt against
his father's estate, which he had turned over to his younger brother and
sisters. He, as the eldest, could have taken it all, for his father had died
without a will, but he said there was not enough to divide, so he had
given it to them and hoped to leave it clear of debt; then for New Spain,
glory and fortune, conquest and yellow gold. He had read of the
voyages of the great Columbus, the Cabots, and a host of others, and
the future was as rosy as a Cornish girl's cheek. Fortune held up her lips
to him, but--there's often a sting in a kiss.
CHAPTER III

The Princess Mary
Now, at that time, Mary, the king's sister, was just ripening into her
greatest womanly perfection. Her skin was like velvet; a rich, clear,
rosy snow, with the hot young blood glowing through it like the faint
red tinge we sometimes see on the inner side of a white rose leaf. Her
hair was a very light brown, almost golden, and fluffy, soft, and fine as
a skein of Arras silk. She was of medium height, with a figure that
Venus might have envied. Her feet and hands were small, and
apparently made for the sole purpose of driving mankind distracted. In
fact, that seemed to be the paramount object in her creation, for she had
the world of men at her feet. Her greatest beauty was her glowing dark
brown eyes, which shone with an ever-changing luster from beneath the
shade of the longest, blackest upcurving lashes ever seen.
Her voice was soft and full, and, except when angry, which, alas, was
not infrequent, had a low and coaxing little note that made it irresistible;
she was a most adroit coaxer, and knew her power full well, although
she did not always plead, having the Tudor temper and preferring to
command--when she could. As before hinted, she had coaxed her royal
brother out of several proposed marriages for her, which would have
been greatly to his advantage; and if you had only known Henry Tudor,
with his vain, boisterous, stubborn violence, you could form some idea
of Mary's powers by that achievement alone.
Will Sommers, the fool, one day spread through court an
announcement that there would be a public exhibition in the main hall
of the palace that evening, when the Princess Mary would perform the
somewhat alarming, but, in fact, harmless, operation of wheedling the
king out of his ears. This was just after she had coaxed him to annul a
marriage contract which her father had made for her with Charles of
Germany, then heir to the greatest inheritance that ever fell to the lot of
one man--Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, and heaven only knows what
else.
She had been made love to by so many men, who had lost their senses
in the dazzling rays of her thousand perfections--of whom, I am
ashamed to say, that I, for a time, had been insane enough to be

one--that love had grown to be a sort of joke with her, and man, a poor,
contemptible creature, made to grovel at her feet. Not that she liked or
encouraged it; for, never having been moved herself, she held love and
its sufferings in utter scorn. Man's love was so cheap and plentiful that
it had no value in her eyes, and it looked as if she would lose the best
thing in life by having too much of it.
Such was the royal maid to whose tender mercies, I now tell you
frankly, my friend Brandon was soon to be turned over. He, however,
was a blade of very different temper from any she had known; and
when I first saw signs of a growing intimacy between them I felt, from
what little I had seen of Brandon, that the tables were very likely to be
turned upon her ladyship. Then thought I, "God help her,"