unt,
he simply read it carelessly over once, tore it in pieces and tossed
it away. I believe the Duke of Buckingham would have given ten
thousand crowns to receive such a note, and would doubtless have shown
it to half the court in triumphant confidence before the middle of the
night. To this great Captain of the guard it was but a scrap of paper.
He was glad to have it nevertheless, and, with all his self-restraint
and stoicism, could not conceal his pleasure.

Brandon at once accepted the invitation in a personal note to the
princess. The boldness of this actually took my breath, and it seems
at first to have startled Mary a little, also. As you must know by
this time, her "dignity royal" was subject to alarms, and quite her
most troublesome attribute--very apt to receive damage in her
relations with Brandon.

Mary did not destroy Brandon's note, despite the fact that her sense
of dignity had been disturbed by it, but after she had read it slipped
off into her private room, read it again and put it on her escritoire.
Soon she picked it up, reread it, and, after a little hesitation, put
it in her pocket. It remained in the pocket for a moment or two, when
out it came for another perusal, and then she unfastened her bodice
and put it in her bosom. Mary had been so intent upon what she was
doing that she had not seen Jane, who was sitting quietly in the
window, and, when she turned and saw her, she was so angry she
snatched the note from her bosom and threw it upon the floor, stamping
her foot in embarrassment and rage.

"How dare you watch me, hussy?" she cried. "You lurk around as still
as the grave, and I have to look into every nook and corner, wherever
I go, or have you spying on me."

"I did not spy upon you, Lady Mary," said Jane quietly.

[Illustration]

"Don't answer me; I know you did. I want you to be less silent after
this. Do you hear? Cough, or sing, or stumble; do something, anything,
that I may hear you."

Jane rose, picked up the note and offered it to her mistress, who
snatched it with one hand, while she gave her a sharp slap with the
other. Jane ran out, and Mary, full of anger and shame, slammed the
door and locked it. The note, being the cause of all the trouble, she
impatiently threw to the floor again, and went over to the window
bench, where she threw herself down to pout. In the course of five
minutes she turned her head for one fleeting instant and looked at the
note, and then, after