When Knighthood Was in Flower

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chmen of our fair ladies, and I was more than anxious to see Brandon and lea

nce 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 awakening Brandon told me all that had happened, but asked me

ord did she ask. She did not come near me, but made a point of avoidance, as I could plainly see. The next morning she, with Jane, went over to Scotland Palace without so much as a breath of inquiry from either of them. This

ons, and felt that a discovery by her brother of what she had done, especially in view of the disast

man; and looking back at it all from the vantage point of time, I cannot wonder that it drove

by a knock at my door, and, upon opening, in walked a serge

e answer demanded that he be forthcoming. I told the sergeant that Brandon wa

two citizens of London, perpetrated, done and committed upon the night of such and such a day, of this year of our Lord, 1514. Brandon's hat had been found by the

y doubt, and although hardly able to lift his hand he was forced to dress

ho I knew would pardon the offense when he heard my story, but Brandon asked

all right at once, I know. I would not do her the foul wrong to think for one instant that she will fail. You do not know her; she sometimes seems selfish, but it is thoughtlessness fostered by flattery, and her heart is right. I would trust her with my life. If you breathe

I did not tell Brandon that the girls had left Greenwich, nor of my undefined, and, perhaps, unfounded fear that Mary might not act as

wisp of a straw; simply the reeking stone walls, covered with fungus, and the windowless arch overhead. One could hardly conceive a more horrible place in which to spend even a moment. I had a glimpse of it by the light of the keeper's lantern as they put him in, and it seemed to me a single night in that awful place would have killed me or drive

strils? And was he not suffering at that moment because of this great service, performed at my request and in my place? If my whole soul had not gone out to him I should have been the most ungrat

le cell, but his reply was that such crimes had of late become so frequent in London that no favor could be shown th

new the facts, and everything would be clearly

es here; they can every one prove innocence clearly and at once. Notwithstanding,

an Johnson, a sort of lawyer-knight, going in. I went down to the palace at Greenwich,

dition, lying half dead from wounds and loss of blood, in that frightful dungeon. The tale moved them greatly

tell the cause of th

t I also know that he knows you will,

ll go to the king at once," and she wa

eyes into vacancy, apparently absorbed in thought. After a little pressing from us she said: "I

e king. On the road over, I stopped at Newgate to tell Brandon that the princess would soon hav

elay-the time spent in riding down to Greenwich and sending back a messenger. So, ligh

her again to learn where and from whom I should receive the order

t seen the king-that she had waited to "eat, and bathe, and dress

ul filth, such as you would not walk across for all the wealth of London Bridge; is surrounded by loathsome, creeping things that would sicken you but to think of; is resting under a charge whose penalty is that he be hanged, drawn and quartered? And yet you stop to eat and bathe a

h my feeling had driven me, but Mary took it al

ct. There is no other way; I have racked my brain-there is no

go with yo

oubt me now. It shall be done, and without delay, regardless of the cost to me. I have thought

h you, Lady Mary,"

tency, and took me by t

m Mary's face, and she looked as if she were going to execution.

f the marriage treaty; and Henry, fearing an outbreak, refused to see the princess. As usual, opposition but spu

oking all over the palace for me, and that the king desired my presence immediately. I wen

ting you. I want you to prepare immediately to go to Paris with an embassy to his majesty, King Louis. You will be the interp

dy Mary where I had left her in the ante-room. She had gone, so I went to her apartments, but could not find her. I went to the queen

k of it to nobody, least of all to the Lady Mary. No one was to know that I wa

besides that, the command of the king I served was my highest duty, and no Caskoden ever faile

in one hour; and almost half that time was spent already.

, but did not take much in the way of clothing, preferring to buy that n

end Brandon to lie in that terrible place another night; yet a persistent fear gnawed at my heart, and a

y man Thomas, who was one of those trusty souls that never fail. I did not tell the girls I was about to start for France, but intimated that I was compelled t

d not receive, nor expect, any letters. The king had ordered secrecy, and if I have mingled with all my fau

become certainties, and that her heart was full of trouble and fear of her violent brother. She would certainly be at her coaxing and wheedling again and on her best behavior, and I feared she might refrain from telling Henry of her trip to Grouche's, knowing how severe he was in such matters and how f

d not fail, and that even if she did, there was Jane, dear, sweet, thoughtful, unselfish Jane, who would not allow her to do so. But as far as they go, our intuitions-our "feelings," as we call them-are worth all the lo

dungeon; and, worse still, he had been tried for murder, and had been condemned to be hanged, drawn and quarte

se of looking up the doings of a friend o

operation, an immense deal of information oozed out of the barber, one item of which was that he had the night before dressed nine wounds, great and small, for Master Brandon, the king's friend

and gave orders to the keeper, who was his tool, to allow no communication with the prisoner, and it was by his instructions that Brandon had been confined in the worst dungeon

rived, and the latter found he was right in his surmise

can help us greatly this morning. Our friend Brandon has been arrested for the killing of two men night before last in Billingsgate ward. I

our majesty, and will go to Londo

returned and had a priva

whom he got into trouble and stabbed two men in the back. It is a very aggravated case and the citizens are much incensed about it, owing partly to the fact that such occurrences have been so frequent of late. I thought, under the circumstances, and in view of the fact that

oan, too," returned Henry, angrily. "I want Brandon liberated at on

ient where evil was to be accomplished, and could wait. Then it was that the council was c

queen, and on his way back espied Mary waiting

with the citizens and city authorities of London, and also knew, or thought she knew, that a smile from her could accomplish everything with him. She

saying: "My lord, you have been unkind to us of late and have not shown us th

e new dance from Caskoden, if that is news, and hope for a

lacently appropriating the title, "and w

Buckingham, but he saw no craft in it. He did see, however, that Mary did

ghing, Mary awaiting an opportunity to put the important question without exciting suspicion. At last it came,

ying my request to the king. You are quite as powerful as his majesty in London, and I should like to ask you to obtain for Master Brandon his liberty at once. I shall hold myself infinitely obliged, if your lordship will do this for me." She smiled upon him her sweetest smile, and assumed an indiffe

s have lately escaped punishment by reason of court interference, I fear this man Brandon will have to bear the brunt, in the London mind, of all these unpunished crimes. It will be next to impossible to liberate him, except by ar

f and tried to remedy her blunder. "That is, if I have heard the straight of it. I have been told that the killing was done in the defense of two-women." Think of this po

u of it?" as

wered: "Sir Edwin Caskoden. He had it from Master Brandon, I suppose." R

"But you must not divulge the fact that I do it. It would cost me all the favor I enjoy with the peop

ed his retiring figure with her eyes, and

e, and still retained her dangerous secret, the divulging of which, she feared, would

ted to take whatever risk there might be in the way that had opened itself to her. Not that she would not have made the sacrifice willingly, or would not have told Henry all if that were the only chance to save Brandon's life, but the other way, the one she had taken by Buckingham's help, seemed safe, and, though not entirely sat

d him, yet she quieted these disturbing suggestions with the thought that it would be only for a short time, and Brandon, she knew, would

little meditation, however, came a thought which decided the question and absolutely made everything bright again for her, so great was her capability for distilling light. She would go at once to Windsor with Jane, and would dispatch a note to Brandon, at Newgate, telling him upon his escape to come to her. He might remain in hiding in the

leave London stealthily and immediately, by representing to him the evil consequences of a break between the citizens and the king, liable to grow out of his release, and re

to Greenwich, where he arrived and sought the king a few minutes before the time he knew the messenger with Mary's note would come. The king was soo

e amount of self-importance was displayed and shamefully wasted. This manifestation was at its hig

d to Henry, who re

r Charles

r hand. Surely would I not leave you long in prison. I go to Wind

AR

gham, the suspicions you whispered in my ear may have some truth. We will let this fellow

ngements had been made the night before for Brandon's escap

had no smiles for any one

y pain it brought her, and dreading the battle for more than lif

demi-god. No mere mortal, thought she, could be so brave and strong and generous and wise; and above all, no mere mortal could vanquish odds of four to one. In the night she would lie on Jane's arm, and amid smothered sobs, would softly talk of her lover, and praise his beauty and perfections, and pour her pathetic little tale over and over again into Jane's receptive ear and warm responsive heart; and Jane answered with soft little kisses that would have consoled Niobe herself. Then Mary would tell how the doors of her life, at the ripe age of eighteen, were closed forever and forever, and that her few remainin

es of billowy ocean to her love! her love! her love! Meanwhile Brandon had his trial in secret down in Lon

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