_CHAPTER IV_

_A Lesson in Dancing_


I laughed heartily when Jane told me of the tilt between Brandon and
Princess Mary, the latter of whom was in the habit of saying unkind
things and being thanked for them.

Brandon was the wrong man to say them to, as Mary learned. He was not
hot-tempered; in fact, just the reverse, but he was the last man to
brook an affront, and the quickest to resent, in a cool-headed,
dangerous way, an intentional offense.

He respected himself and made others do the same, or seem to do so, at
least. He had no vanity--which is but an inordinate desire for those
qualities that bring self-respect, and often the result of conscious
demerit--but he knew himself, and knew that he was entitled to his own
good opinion. He was every inch a man, strong, intelligent and brave
to temerity, with a reckless disregard of consequences, which might
have been dangerous had it not been tempered by a dash of prudence and
caution that gave him ballast.

I was not surprised when I heard of the encounter; for I knew enough
of him to be sure that Mary's high-handedness would meet its
counterpart in my cool friend Brandon. It was, however, an unfortunate
victory, and what all Mary's beauty and brightness would have failed