When Knighthood Was in Flower

by Charles Major

  _CHAPTER III_

  _The Princess Mary_

  Now, at that time, Mary, the king's sister, was just ripening into hergreatest womanly perfection. Her skin was like velvet; a rich, clear,rosy snow, with the hot young blood glowing through it like the faintred tinge we sometimes see on the inner side of a white rose leaf. Herhair was a very light brown, almost golden, and fluffy, soft, and fineas a skein of Arras silk. She was of medium height, with a figure thatVenus might have envied. Her feet and hands were small, and apparentlymade for the sole purpose of driving mankind distracted. In fact, thatseemed to be the paramount object in her creation, for she had theworld of men at her feet. Her greatest beauty was her glowing darkbrown eyes, which shone with an ever-changing luster from beneath theshade of the longest, blackest upcurving lashes ever seen.

  Her voice was soft and full, and, except when angry, which, alas, wasnot infrequent, had a low and coaxing little note that made itirresistible; she was a most adroit coaxer, and knew her power fullwell, although she did not always plead, having the Tudor temper andpreferring to command--when she could. As before hinted, she hadcoaxed her royal brother out of several proposed marriages for her,which would have been greatly to his advantage; and if you had onlyknown Henry Tudor, with his vain, boisterous, stubborn violence, youcould form some idea of Mary's powers by that achievement alone.

  Will Sommers, the fool, one day spread through court an announcementthat there would be a public exhibition in the main hall of the palacethat evening, when the Princess Mary would perform the somewhatalarming, but, in fact, harmless, operation of wheedling the king outof his ears. This was just after she had coaxed him to annul amarriage contract which her father had made for her with Charles ofGermany, then heir to the greatest inheritance that ever fell to thelot of one man--Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, and heaven only knowswhat else.

  She had been made love to by so many men, who had lost their senses inthe dazzling rays of her thousand perfections--of whom, I am ashamedto say, that I, for a time, had been insane enough to be one--thatlove 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 likedor encouraged it; for, never having been moved herself, she held loveand its sufferings in utter scorn. Man's love was so cheap andplentiful that it had no value in her eyes, and it looked as if shewould lose the best thing in life by having too much of it.

  Such was the royal maid to whose tender mercies, I now tell youfrankly, my friend Brandon was soon to be turned over. He, however,was a blade of very different temper from any she had known; and whenI first saw signs of a growing intimacy between them I felt, from whatlittle I had seen of Brandon, that the tables were very likely to beturned upon her ladyship. Then thought I, "God help her," for in anature like hers, charged with latent force, strong and hot and fieryas the sun's stored rays, it needed but a flash to make it patent,when damage was sure to follow for somebody--probably Brandon.

  Mary did not come home with us from Westminster the morning after thejoustings, as we had expected, but followed some four or five dayslater, and Brandon had fairly settled himself at court before herarrival. As neither his duties nor mine were onerous, we had a greatdeal of time on our hands, which we employed walking and riding, orsitting in our common room reading and talking. Of course, as withmost young men, that very attractive branch of natural history, woman,was a favorite topic, and we accordingly discussed it a great deal;that is, to tell the exact truth, _I_ did. Although Brandon had seenmany an adventure during his life on the continent, which would not doto write down here, he was as little of a boaster as any man I evermet, and, while I am in the truth-telling business, I was as great abraggart of my inches as ever drew the long-bow--in that line, I mean.Gods! I flush up hot, even now, when I think of it. So I talked agreat deal and found myself infinitely pleased with Brandon'sconversational powers, which were rare; being no less than thecapacity for saying nothing, and listening politely to an infinitedeal of the same thing, in another form, from me.

  I remember that I told him I had known the Princess Mary from a timewhen she was twelve years old, and how I had made a fool of myselfabout her. I fear I tried to convey the impression that it was herexalted rank only which made her look unfavorably upon my passion, andsuppressed the fact that she had laughed at me good humoredly, and putme off as she would have thrust a poodle from her lap. The truth is,she had always been kind and courteous to me, and had admitted me to adegree of intimacy much greater than I deserved. This, partly atleast, grew out of the fact that I helped her along the thorny path toknowledge; a road she traveled at an eager gallop, for she dearlyloved to learn--from curiosity perhaps.

  I am sure she held me in her light, gentle heart as a dear friend, butwhile her heart was filled with this mild warmth for me, mine began toburn with the flame that discolors everything, and I saw herfriendliness in a very distorting light. She was much kinder to methan to most men, but I did not see that it was by reason of myabsolute harmlessness; and, I suppose, because I was a vain fool, Igradually began to gather hope--which goes with every vain man'slove--and what is more, actually climbed to the very apex of idiocyand declared myself. I well knew the infinite distance between us; butlike every other man who came within the circle of this charminglodestone I lost my head, and, in short, made a greater fool of myselfthan I naturally was--which is saying a good deal for that time in mylife, God knows!

  I knew vaguely but did not fairly realize how utterly beyond my reachin every way she was until I opened the flood-gates of my passion--asI thought it--and saw her smile, and try to check the coming laugh.Then came a look of offended dignity, followed by a quick softeningglance.

  "Leave me one friend, I pray you, Edwin. I value you too highly tolose, and esteem you too much to torment. Do not make of yourself oneof those fools who feel, or pretend to feel, I care not which, suchpreference for me. You cannot know in what contempt a woman holds aman who follows her though she despises him. No man can beg a woman'slove; he must command it; do not join their ranks, but let us be goodfriends. I will tell you the plain truth; it would be no differentwere we both of the same degree; even then I could not feel toward youas you think you wish, but I can be your friend, and will promise tobe that always, if you will promise never again to speak of this tome."

  I promised solemnly and have always kept my word, as this true,gracious woman, so full of faults and beauties, virtues and failings,has, ever since that day and moment, kept hers. It seemed that mylove, or what I supposed was love, left my heart at once, frozen inthe cold glint of her eyes as she smiled upon my first avowal;somewhat as disease may leave the sickened body upon a great shock.And in its place came the restful flame of a friend's love, which sosoftly warms without burning. But the burning! There is nothing inlife worth having compared with it for all its pains and agonies. Isthere?

  "Now if you must love somebody," continued the princess, "there isLady Jane Bolingbroke, who is beautiful and good, and admires you,and, I think, could learn to----" but here the lady in question ranout from behind the draperies, where, I believe, she had beenlistening to it all, and put her hand over her mistress' mouth tosilence her.

  "Don't believe one word she says, Sir Edwin," cried Lady Jane; "if youdo I never _will_ like you." The emphasis on the "will" held out suchinvoluntary promise in case I did not believe the princess, that I atonce protested total want of faith in a single syllable she had saidabout her, and vowed that I knew it could not be true; that I darednot hope for such happiness.

  You see, I had begun to make love to Jane almost before I was off myknees to Mary, and, therefore, I had not been much hurt in Mary'scase. I had suffered merely a touch of the general epidemic, not thelingering, chronic disease that kills.

  Then I knew that the best cure for the sting which lies in a lucklesslove is to love elsewhere, and Jane, as she stood there, so _petite_,so blushing and so fair, struck me as quite the most pleasing antidoteI could possibly find, so I began at once t
o administer to myself thedelightful counter-irritant. It was a happy thought for me; one ofthose which come to a man now and then, and for which he thanks hiswits in every hour of his after life.

  But the winning of Jane was not so easy a matter as my vanity hadprompted me to think. I started with a handicap, since Jane had heardmy declaration to Mary, and I had to undo all that before I could doanything else. Try the same thing yourself with a spirited girl,naturally laughter-loving and coy, if you think it a simple, easyundertaking. I began to fear I should need another antidote longbefore I heard her sweet soul-satisfying "yes." I do not believe,however, I could have found in the whole world an antidote to my lovefor Jane. You see I tell you frankly that I won her, and concealnothing, so far as Jane and I are concerned, for the purpose ofholding you in suspense. I have started out to tell you the history oftwo other persons--if I can ever come to it--but find a continualtendency on the part of my own story to intrude, for every man is avery important personage to himself. I shall, however, try to keep itout.

  In the course of my talk with Brandon I had, as I have said, told himthe story of Mary, with some slight variations and coloring, or ratherdiscoloring, to make it appear a little less to my discredit than thebarefaced truth would have been. I told him also about Jane; and, Igrieve and blush to say, expressed a confidence in that direction Ilittle felt.

  It had been perhaps a year since my adventure with Mary, and I hadtaken all that time trying to convince Jane that I did not mean a wordI had said to her mistress, and that I was very earnest in everythingI said to her. But Jane's ears would have heard just as much had theybeen the pair of beautiful little shells they so much resembled. Thistroubled me a great deal, and the best I could hope was that she heldme on probation.

  On the evening of the day Mary came home to Greenwich, Brandon asked:"Who and what on earth is this wonderful Mary I hear so much about?They say she is coming home to-day, and the court seems to have gonemad about it; I hear nothing but 'Mary is coming! Mary is coming!Mary! Mary!' from morning until night. They say Buckingham is besidehimself for love of her. He has a wife at home, if I am right, and isold enough to be her father. Is he not?" I assented; and Brandoncontinued: "A man who will make such a fool of himself about a womanis woefully weak. The men of the court must be poor creatures."

  He had much to learn about the power of womanhood. There is nothingon earth--but you know as much about it as I do.

  "Wait until you see her," I answered, "and you will be one of them,also. I flatter you by giving you one hour with her to be heels overhead in love. With an ordinary man it takes one-sixtieth of that time;so you see I pay a compliment to your strength of mind."

  "Nonsense!" broke in Brandon. "Do you think I left all my wits down inSuffolk? Why, man, she is the sister of the king, and is sought bykings and emperors. I might as well fall in love with a twinklingstar. Then, besides, my heart is not on my sleeve. You must think me afool; a poor, enervated, simpering fool like--like--well, like one ofthose nobles of England. Don't put me down with them, Caskoden, if youwould remain my friend."

  We both laughed at this sort of talk, which was a little in advance ofthe time, for a noble, though an idiot, to the most of England was anoble still, God-created and to be adored.

  Another great bond of sympathy between Brandon and myself was acommunity of opinion concerning certain theories as to the equality ofmen and tolerance of religious thought. We believed that these thingswould yet come, in spite of kingcraft and priestcraft, but wisely keptour pet theories to ourselves: that is, between ourselves.

  Of what use is it to argue the equality of human kind to a man whohonestly thinks he is better than any one else, or to one who reallybelieves that some one else is better than he; and why dispute aboutthe various ways of saving one's soul, when you are not even sure youhave a soul to save? When I open my mouth for public utterance, theking is the best man in Christendom, and his premier peer of the realmthe next best. When the king is a Catholic I go to Mass; since,praised be the Lord, I have brains enough not to let my head interferewith the set ways of a stone wall.

  Now, when Mary returned the whole court rejoiced, and I was anxiousfor Brandon to meet her and that they should become friends. Therewould be no trouble in bringing this meeting about, since, as youknow, I was upon terms of intimate friendship with Mary, and was theavowed, and, as I thought, at least hoped, all but accepted lover ofher first lady in waiting and dearest friend, Lady Jane Bolingbroke.Brandon, it is true, was not noble; not even an English knight, whileI was both knighted and noble; but he was of as old a family asEngland boasted, and near of kin to some of the best blood of theland. The meeting came about sooner than I expected, and was very neara failure. It was on the second morning after Mary's arrival atGreenwich. Brandon and I were walking in the palace park when we metJane, and I took the opportunity to make these, my two best-lovedfriends, acquainted.

  "How do you do, Master Brandon?" said Lady Jane, holding out herplump little hand, so white and soft, and dear to me. "I have heardsomething of you the last day or so from Sir Edwin, but had begun tofear he was not going to give me the pleasure of knowing you. I hope Imay see you often now, and that I may present you to my mistress."

  With this, her eyes, bright as overgrown dew-drops, twinkled with amischievous little smile, as if to say: "Ah, another large handsomefellow to make a fool of himself."

  Brandon acquiesced in the wish she had made, and, after theinterchange of a few words, Jane said her mistress was waiting at theother side of the grounds, and that she must go. She then ran off witha laugh and a courtesy, and was soon lost to sight behind theshrubbery at the turning of the walk.

  In a short time we came to a summer house near the marbleboat-landing, where we found the queen and some of her ladies awaitingthe rest of their party for a trip down the river, which had beenplanned the day before. Brandon was known to the queen and several ofthe ladies, although he had not been formally presented at anaudience. Many of the king's friends enjoyed a considerable intimacywith the whole court without ever receiving the public stamp ofrecognition, socially, which goes with a formal presentation.

  The queen, seeing us, sent me off to bring the king. After I hadgone, she asked if any one had seen the Princess Mary, and Brandontold her Lady Jane had said she was at the other side of the grounds.Thereupon her majesty asked Brandon to find the princess and to saythat she was wanted.

  Brandon started off and soon found a bevy of girls sitting on somebenches under a spreading oak, weaving spring flowers. He had neverseen the princess, so could not positively know her. As a matter offact, he did know her, as soon as his eyes rested on her, for shecould not be mistaken among a thousand--there was no one like her oranything near it. Some stubborn spirit of opposition, however,prompted him to pretend ignorance. All that he had heard of herwonderful power over men, and the servile manner in which they fellbefore her, had aroused in him a spirit of antagonism, and hadbegotten a kind of distaste beforehand. He was wrong in this, becauseMary was not a coquette in any sense of the word, and did absolutelynothing to attract men, except to be so beautiful, sweet and winningthat they could not let her alone; for all of which surely the princeof fault-finders himself could in no way blame her.

  She could not help that God had seen fit to make her the fairest beingon earth, and the responsibility would have to lie where itbelonged--with God; Mary would have none of it. Her attractiveness wasnot a matter of volition or intention on her part. She was too youngfor deliberate snare-setting--though it often begins very early inlife--and made no effort to attract men. Man's love was too cheap athing for her to strive for, and I am sure, in her heart, she wouldinfinitely have preferred to live without it--that is, until the rightone should come. The right one is always on his way, and, first orlast, is sure to come to every woman--sometimes, alas! too late--andwhen he comes, be it late or early, she crowns him, even though he bea long-eared ass. Blessed crown! and thrice-blessed blindness--elsethere were fewer coronations. />
  So Brandon stirred this antagonism and determined not to see hermanifold perfections, which he felt sure were exaggerated; but totreat her as he would the queen--who was black and leathery enough tofrighten a satyr--with all respect due to her rank, but with his ownopinion of her nevertheless, safely stored away in the back of hishead.

  Coming up to the group, Brandon took off his hat, and, with a gracefullittle bow that let the curls fall around his face, asked: "Have I thehonor to find the Princess Mary among these ladies?"

  Mary, who I know you will at once say was thoroughly spoiled, withoutturning her face toward him, replied:

  "Is the Princess Mary a person of so little consequence about thecourt that she is not known to a mighty captain of the guard?"

  He wore his guardsman's doublet, and she knew his rank by hisuniform. She had not noticed his face.

  Quick as a flash came the answer: "I can not say of what consequencethe Princess Mary is about the court; it is not my place to determinesuch matters. I am sure, however, she is not here, for I doubt not shewould have given a gentle answer to a message from the queen. I shallcontinue my search." With this, he turned to leave, and the ladies,including Jane, who was there and saw it all and told me of it,awaited the bolt they knew would come, for they saw the lightninggathering in Mary's eyes.

  Mary sprang to her feet with an angry flush in her face, exclaiming:"Insolent fellow, I am the Princess Mary; if you have a message,deliver it and be gone." You may be sure this sort of treatment wassuch as the cool-headed, daring Brandon would repay with usury; so,turning upon his heel and almost presenting his back to Mary, he spoketo Lady Jane:

  "Will your ladyship say to her highness that her majesty, the queen,awaits her coming at the marble landing?"

  "No need to repeat the message, Jane," cried Mary. "I have ears andcan hear for myself." Then turning to Brandon: "If your insolence willpermit you to receive a message from so insignificant a person as theking's sister, I beg you to say to the queen that I shall be with herpresently."

  He did not turn his face toward Mary, but bowed again to Jane.

  "May I ask your ladyship further to say for me that if I have beenguilty of any discourtesy I greatly regret it. My failure to recognizethe Princess Mary grew out of my misfortune in never having beenallowed to bask in the light of her countenance. I cannot believe thefault lies at my door, and I hope for her own sake that her highness,on second thought, will realize how ungentle and unkind some one elsehas been." And with a sweeping courtesy he walked quickly down thepath.

  "The insolent wretch!" cried one.

  "He ought to hold papers on the pillory," said another.

  "Nothing of the sort," broke in sensible, fearless little Jane; "Ithink the Lady Mary was wrong. He could not have known her byinspiration."

  "Jane is right," exclaimed Mary, whose temper, if short, was alsoshort-lived, and whose kindly heart always set her right if she butgave it a little time. Her faults were rather those of education thanof nature. "Jane is right; it was what I deserved. I did not thinkwhen I spoke, and did not really mean it as it sounded. He acted likea man, and looked like one, too, when he defended himself. I warrantthe pope at Rome could not run over him with impunity. For once I havefound a real live man, full of manliness. I saw him in the lists atWindsor a week ago, but the king said his name was a secret, and Icould not learn it. He seemed to know you, Jane. Who is he? Now tellus all you know. The queen can wait."

  And her majesty waited on a girl's curiosity.

  I had told Jane all I knew about Brandon, so she was prepared withfull information, and gave it. She told the princess who he was; ofhis terrible duel with Judson; his bravery and adventures in the wars;his generous gift to his brother and sisters, and lastly, "Sir Edwinsays he is the best-read man in the court, and the bravest, truestheart in Christendom."

  After Jane's account of Brandon, they all started by a roundabout wayfor the marble landing. In a few moments whom did they see, comingtoward them down the path, but Brandon, who had delivered his messageand continued his walk. When he saw whom he was about to meet, hequickly turned in another direction. The Lady Mary had seen him,however, and told Jane to run forward and bring him to her. She soonovertook him and said:

  "Master Brandon, the princess wishes to see you." Then, maliciously:"You will suffer this time. I assure you she is not used to suchtreatment. It was glorious, though, to see you resent such an affront.Men usually smirk and smile foolishly and thank her when she smitesthem."

  Brandon was disinclined to return.

  "I am not in her highness's command," he answered, "and do not careto go back for a reprimand when I am in no way to blame."

  "Oh, but you must come; perhaps she will not scold this time," and sheput her hand upon his arm, and laughingly drew him along. Brandon, ofcourse, had to submit when led by so sweet a captor--anybody would. Sofresh, and fair, and lovable was Jane, that I am sure anythingmasculine _must_ have given way.

  Coming up to the princess and her ladies, who were waiting, Jane said:"Lady Mary, let me present Master Brandon, who, if he has offended inany way, humbly sues for pardon." That was the one thing Brandon hadno notion on earth of doing, but he let it go as Jane had put it, andthis was his reward:

  "It is not Master Brandon who should sue for pardon," responded theprincess, "it is I who was wrong. I blush for what I did and said.Forgive me, sir, and let us start anew." At this she stepped up toBrandon and offered him her hand, which he, dropping to his knee,kissed most gallantly.

  "Your highness, you can well afford to offend when you have so sweetand gracious a talent for making amends. 'A wrong acknowledged,' assome one has said, 'becomes an obligation.'" He looked straight intothe girl's eyes as he said this, and his gaze was altogether toostrong for her, so the lashes fell. She flushed and said with a smilethat brought the dimples:

  "I thank you; that is a real compliment." Then laughingly: "Muchbetter than extravagant comments on one's skin, and eyes, and hair. Weare going to the queen at the marble landing. Will you walk with us,sir?" And they strolled away together, while the other girls followedin a whispering, laughing group.

  Was there ever so glorious a calm after such a storm?

  "Then those mythological compliments," continued Mary, "don't youdislike them?"

  "I can't say that I have ever received many--none that I recall,"replied Brandon, with a perfectly straight face, but with a smiletrying its best to break out.

  "Oh! you have not? Well! how would you like to have somebody alwaystelling you that Apollo was humpbacked and misshapen compared withyou; that Endymion would have covered his face had he but seen yours,and so on?"

  "I don't know, but I think I should like it--from some persons," hereplied, looking ever so innocent.

  This savored of familiarity after so brief an acquaintance, and causedthe princess to glance up in slight surprise; but only for theinstant, for his innocent look disarmed her.

  "I have a mind to see," she returned, laughing and throwing her headback, as she looked up at him out of the corner of her lustrous eyes."But I will pay you a better compliment. I positively thank you forthe rebuke. I do many things like that, for which I am always sorry.Oh! you don't know how difficult it is to be a good princess." And sheshook her head, with a gathering of little trouble-wrinkles in herforehead, as much as to say, "There is no getting away from it,though." Then she breathed a soft little sigh of tribulation as theywalked on.

  "I know it must be a task to be good when everybody flatters evenone's shortcomings," said Brandon, and then continued in a way that, Iam free to confess, was something priggish: "It is almost impossiblefor us to see our own faults, even when others are kind enough topoint them out, for they are right ugly things and unpleasant to lookupon. But lacking those outside monitors, one must all the morecultivate the habit of constant inlooking and self-examination. If weare only brave enough to confront our faults and look them in theface, ugly as they are, we shall be sure to overcome the worst ofthem
. A striving toward good will achieve at least a part of it."

  "Oh!" returned the princess, "but what _is_ good and what _is_ wrong?So often we can not tell them apart until we look back at what we havedone, and then it is all too late. I truly wish to be good more than Idesire anything else in the world. I am so ignorant and helpless, andhave such strong inclinations to do wrong that sometimes I seem to bealmost all wrong. The priests say so much, but tell us so little.They talk about St. Peter and St. Paul, and a host of other saints andholy fathers and what-nots, but fail to tell us what we need everymoment of our lives; that is, how to know the right when we see it,and how to do it; and how to know the wrong and how to avoid it. Theyask us to believe so much, and insist that faith is the sum of virtue,and the lack of it the sum of sin; that to faith all things are added;but we might believe every syllable of their whole disturbing creed,and then spoil it all through blind ignorance of what is right andwhat is wrong."

  "As to knowing right and wrong," replied Brandon, "I think I can giveyou a rule which, although it may not cover the whole ground, isexcellent for every-day use. It is this: Whatever makes others unhappyis wrong; whatever makes the world happier is good. As to how we arealways to do this, I can not tell you. One has to learn that bytrying. We can but try, and if we fail altogether, there is stillvirtue in every futile effort toward the right."

  Mary bent her head as she walked along in thought.

  "What you have said is the only approach to a rule for knowing anddoing the right I have ever heard. Now what do you think of me as aflatterer? But it will do no good; the bad is in me too strong; italways does itself before I can apply any rule, or even realize whatis coming." And again she shook her head with a bewitching little lookof trouble.

  "Pardon me, your highness; but there is no bad _in_ you. It has beenput _on_ you by others, and is all on the outside; there is none of itin your heart at all. That evil which you think comes out of you,simply falls from you; your heart is all right, or I have greatlymisjudged you." He was treating her almost as if she were a child.

  "I fear, Master Brandon, you are the most adroit flatterer of all,"said Mary, shaking her head and looking up at him with a side glance,"people have deluged me with all kinds of flattery--I have thedifferent sorts listed and labeled--but no one has ever gone to theextravagant length of calling me good. Perhaps they think I do notcare for that; but I like it best. I don't like the others at all. IfI am beautiful or not, it is as God made me, and I have nothing to dowith it, and desire no credit, but if I could only be good it might bemy own doing, perhaps, and I ought to have praise. I wonder if thereis really and truly any good in me, and if you have read me aright."Then looking up at him with a touch of consternation: "Or are youlaughing at me?"

  Brandon wisely let the last suggestion pass unnoticed.

  "I am sure that I am right; you have glorious capacities for good, butalas! corresponding possibilities for evil. It will eventually alldepend upon the man you marry. He can make out of you a perfect woman,or the reverse." Again there was the surprised expression in Mary'sface, but Brandon's serious look disarmed her.

  "I fear you are right, as to the reverse, at any rate; and the worstof it is, I shall never be able to choose a man to help me, but shallsooner or later be compelled to marry the creature who will pay thegreatest price."

  "God forbid!" said Brandon reverently.

  They were growing rather serious, so Mary turned the conversationagain into the laughing mood, and said, with a half sigh: "Oh! I hopeyou are right about the possibilities for good, but you do not know.Wait until you have seen more of me."

  "I certainly hope I shall not have long to wait."

  The surprised eyes again glanced quickly up to the serious face, butthe answer came: "That you shall not:--but here is the queen, and Isuppose we must have the benediction." Brandon understood herhint--that the preaching was over,--and taking it for his dismissal,playfully lifted his hands in imitation of the old Bishop ofCanterbury, and murmured the first line of the Latin benediction. Thenthey both laughed and courtesied, and Brandon walked away.