"Sir, forgive me," she said, putting her hand prettily upon his arm.
"I should have known. Believe me, I would not have hurt you
intentionally."

"Ah! my lady, the word was thoughtlessly spoken, and needs no
forgiveness; but your heart shows itself in the asking, and I thank
you: I wanted but a moment to throw off the thought of that terrible
day." Then they came back together, and the princess, who had tact
enough when she cared to use it, soon put matters right again.

I started to tell one of my best stories in order to cheer Brandon,
but in the midst of it, Mary, who, I had noticed, was restless and
uneasy, full of blushes and hesitancy, and with a manner as new to her
as the dawn of the first day was to the awakening world, abruptly
asked Brandon to dance with her again. She had risen and was standing
by her chair, ready to be led out.

"Gladly," answered Brandon, as he sprang to her side and took her
hand. "Which shall it be, La Galliard or the new dance?" And Mary
standing there, the picture of waiting, willing modesty, lifted her
free hand to his shoulder, tried to raise her eyes to his, but
failed, and softly said: "The new dance."

This time the dancing was more soberly done, and when Mary stopped it
was with serious, thoughtful eyes, for she had felt the tingling of a
new strange force in Brandon's touch. A man, not a worm, but a real
man, with all the irresistible infinite attractions that a man may
have for a woman--the subtle drawing of the lodestone for the passive
iron--had come into her life. Doubly sweet it was to her intense,
young virgin soul, in that it first revealed the dawning of that