ossible pain more poignant than
either, and I cannot bear it; so I come to you--you who are the great
cure for all my troubles. Oh! that I could lay them here all my life
long," and she put her head upon his breast, forgetting what she had
intended to say.

"What is the trouble, Mary?"

"Oh! yes! I thought of that marriage and of losing you, and then, oh!
Mary Mother! I thought of some other woman having you to herself. I
could see her with you, and I was jealous--I think they call it. I
have heard of the pangs of jealousy, and if the fear of a rival is so
great what would the reality be? It would kill me; I could not endure
it. I cannot endure even this, and I want you to swear that----"

Brandon took her in his arms as she began to weep.

"I will gladly swear by everything I hold sacred that no other woman
than you shall ever be my wife. If I cannot have you, be sure you have
spoiled every other woman for me. There is but one in all the
world--but one. I can at least save you that pain."

She then stood on tip-toes to lift her lips to him, and said: "I give
you the same promise. How you must have suffered when you thought I
was to wed another."

After a pause she went on: "But it might have been worse--that is, it
would be worse if you should marry some other woman; but that is all
settled now and I feel easier. Then I might have married the old
French king, but that, too, is settled; and we can endure the lesser
pain. It always helps us when we are able to think it might have been
worse."

Her unquestioning faith in Brandon was beautiful, and she never
doubted that he spoke the unalterable truth when he said he would
never marry any other woman. She had faith in herself, too, and was
confident that her promise to marry no man but Brandon ended that
important matter likewise, and put the French marriage totally out of
the question for all time to come.

As for Brandon, he was safe enough in his part of the contract. He
knew only too well that no woman could approach Mary in her inimitable
perfections, and he had tested his love closely enough, in his
struggle against it, to feel that it had taken up its abode in his
heart to stay, whether he wanted it or not. He knew that he was safe
in making her a promise which he was powerless to break. All this he
fully explained to Mary, as they sat looking out of the window at the
dreary rain which had come on again with the gathering gloom of night.

Brandon did not