where he had left his horse at a
hostelry, and rode down to Greenwich.

So Mary had made her trip to Grouche's, but it was labor worse than
lost. Grouche had told her nothing she wanted to know, though much
that he supposed she would like to learn. He had told her she had many
lovers, a fact which her face and form would make easy enough to
discover. He informed her also that she had a low-born lover, and in
order to put a little evil in with the good fortune, and give what he
said an air of truth, he added to Mary's state of unrest more than he
thought by telling her that her low-born lover was false. He thought
to flatter her by predicting that she would soon marry a very great
prince or nobleman, the indications being in favor of the former, and,
in place of this making her happy, she wished the wretched soothsayer
in the bottomless pit--he and all his prophecies; herself, too, for
going to him. His guesses were pretty shrewd; that is, admitting he
did not know who Mary was, which she at least supposed was the case.
So Mary wept that night and moaned and moaned because she had gone to
Grouche's. It had added infinitely to the pain of which her heart was
already too full, and made her thoroughly wretched and unhappy. As
usual though, with the blunders of stubborn, self-willed people, some
one else had to pay the cost of her folly. Brandon was paymaster in
this case, and when you see how dearly he paid, and how poorly she
requited the debt, I fear you will despise her. Wait, though! Be not
hasty. The right of judgment belongs to--you know whom. No man knows
another man's heart, much less a woman's, so how can he judge? We
shall all have more than enough of judging by and by. So let us put
off for as many to-morrows as possible the thing that should be left
undone to-day.

_CHAPTER IX_

_Put not your Trust in Princesses_

I thought the king's dance that night would never end, so fond were
the Frenchmen of our fair ladies, and I was more than anxious to see
Brandon and learn the issue of the girls' escapade, as I well knew the
danger attending it.

All things, however, must end, so early in the morning I hastened to
our rooms, where I found Brandon lying in his clothes, everything
saturated with blood from a dozen sword cuts. He was very weak, and I
at once had in a barber, who took off his shirt of mail and dressed
his wounds. He then dropped into a deep sleep, while I watched the
night out. Upon awakeni