later, and Brandon had fairly settled himself at court before her
arrival. As neither his duties nor mine were onerous, we had a great
deal of time on our hands, which we employed walking and riding, or
sitting in our common room reading and talking. Of course, as with
most 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 seen
many an adventure during his life on the continent, which would not do
to write down here, he was as little of a boaster as any man I ever
met, and, while I am in the truth-telling business, I was as great a
braggart 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 a
great deal and found myself infinitely pleased with Brandon's
conversational powers, which were rare; being no less than the
capacity for saying nothing, and listening politely to an infinite
deal of the same thing, in another form, from me.

I remember that I told him I had known the Princess Mary from a time
when she was twelve years old, and how I had made a fool of myself
about her. I fear I tried to convey the impression that it was her
exalted rank only which made her look unfavorably upon my passion, and
suppressed the fact that she had laughed at me good humoredly, and put
me 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 a
degree of intimacy much greater than I deserved. This, partly at
least, grew out of the fact that I helped her along the thorny path to
knowledge; a road she traveled at an eager gallop, for she dearly
loved to learn--from curiosity perhaps.

I am sure she held me in her light, gentle heart as a dear friend, but