he
girl was startled at first and drew away. This nettled Brandon a
little, and he showed it plainly.

"I thought you wished me to teach you the new dance?" he said.

"I do, but--but I did not know it was danced that way," she replied
with a fluttering little laugh, looking up into his face with a half
shy, half apologetic manner, and then dropping her lashes before
his gaze.

[Illustration]

"Oh, well!" said Brandon, with a Frenchman's shrug of the shoulders,
and then moved off as if about to leave the floor.

"But is that really the way you--they dance it? With your--their arm
around my--a lady's waist?"

"I should not have dared venture upon such a familiarity otherwise,"
answered Brandon, with a glimmer of a smile playing around his lips
and hiding in his eyes.

Mary saw this shadowy smile, and said: "Oh! I fear your modesty will
cause you hurt; I am beginning to believe you would dare do anything
you wish. I more than half suspect you are a very bold man,
notwithstanding your smooth, modest manner."

"You do me foul wrong, I assure you. I am the soul of modesty, and
grieve that you should think me bold," said Brandon, with a broadening
smile.

Mary interrupted him. "Now, I do believe you are laughing at me--at my
prudery, I suppose you think it."

Mary would rather have been called a fool than a prude, and I think
she was right. Prudery is no more a sign of virtue than a wig is of
hair. It is usually put on to hide a bald place.

The princess stood irresolute for a moment, in evident hesitation and
annoyance.

"You are grieving because I think you bold! And yet you stand there
laughing at me to my face. I think so more than ever now. I know it.
Oh, you make me angry! Don't! I do not like persons who anger me and
then laugh at me." This turned Brandon's smile into a laugh which he
could not hold back.

Mary's eyes shot fire, and she stamped her foot, exclaiming: "Sir,
this goes beyond all bounds; I will not tolerate your boldness another
moment." I thought she was going to dismiss him, but she did not. The
time had come when he or she must be the master.

It was a battle royal between the forces on the floor, and I enjoyed
it and felt that Brandon would come out all right.

He said good-humoredly: "What, shall you have all the laugh in your
sleeve at my expense? Do you expect to bring me here to win a wager
for you, made on the assumption of my stupidity and lack of social
accomplishments, and