_CHAPTER VIII_

_The Trouble in Billingsgate Ward_


About a week after Brandon's memorable interview with Mary an incident
occurred which changed everything and came very near terminating his
career in the flower of youth. It also brought about a situation of
affairs that showed the difference in the quality of these two persons
thrown so marvelously together from their far distant stations at each
end of the ladder of fortune, in a way that reflected very little
credit upon the one from the upper end. But before I tell you of that
I will relate briefly one or two other matters that had a bearing upon
what was done, and the motives prompting it.

To begin with, Brandon had kept himself entirely away from the
princess ever since the afternoon at the king's ante-chamber. The
first day or so she sighed, but thought little of his absence; then
she wept, and as usual began to grow piqued and irritable.

What was left of her judgment told her it was better for them to
remain apart, but her longing to see Brandon grew stronger as the
prospect of it grew less, and she became angry that it could not be
gratified. Jane was right; an unsatisfied desire with Mary was
torture. Even her sense of the great distance between them had begun
to fade, and when she so wished for him and he did not come, their
positions seemed to be reversed. At the end of the third day she sent
for him to come to her rooms, but he, by a mighty effort, sent back a