ad a fact in every look, the truth in
every motion, a demonstration in every glance. She seemed powerless
even to attempt concealment. In Brandon's handsome manliness and
evident superiority, the king thought he saw a very clear possibility
for Mary to love, and where there is such a possibility for a girl,
she usually fails to fulfill expectations. I suppose there are more
wrong guesses as to the sort of man a given woman will fall in love
with than on any other subject of equal importance in the whole range
of human surmising. It did not, however, strike the king that way, and
he, in common with most other sons of Adam, supposing that he knew all
about it, marked Brandon as a very possible and troublesome personage.
For once in the history of the world a man had hit upon the truth in
this obscure matter, although he had no idea how correct he was.

Now, all this brought Brandon into the deep shadow of the royal frown,
and, like many another man, he sank his fortune in the fathomless
depths of a woman's heart, and thought himself rich in doing it.

_CHAPTER XIV_

_In the Siren Country_

With the king, admiration stood for affection, a mistake frequently
made by people not given to self-analysis, and in a day or two a
reaction set in toward Brandon which inspired a desire to make some
amends for his harsh treatment. This he could not do to any great
extent, on Buckingham's account; at least, not until the London loan
was in his coffers, but the fact that Brandon was going to New Spain
so soon and would be out of the way, both of Mary's eyes and Mary's
marriage, stimulated that rare flower in Henry's heart, a good
resolve, and Brandon was offered his old quarters with me until such
time as he should sail for New Spain.

He had never abandoned this plan, and now that matters had taken this
turn with Mary and the king, his resolution was stronger than ever, in
that the scheme held two recommendations and a possibility.

The recommendations were, first, it would take him away from Mary,
with whom--when out of the inspiring influence of her buoyant
hopefulness--he knew marriage to be utterly impossible; and second,
admitting and facing that impossibility, he might find at least
partial relief from his heartache in the stirring events and
adventures of that faraway land of monsters, dragons, savages and
gold. The possibility lay in the gold, and a very faintly burning
flame of hope held out the still more faint