Fire sprang to Mary's eyes and she exclaimed: "If your majesty does
not like the way we do and dance at my balls you can retire as soon as
you see fit. Your face is a kill-mirth anyway." It never took long to
rouse her ladyship.

The queen turned to Henry, who was laughing, and angrily demanded:

"Will your majesty permit me to be thus insulted in your very
presence?"

"You got yourself into it; get out of it as best you can. I have often
told you to let her alone; she has sharp claws." The king was really
tired of Catherine's sour frown before he married her. It was her
dower of Spanish gold that brought her a second Tudor husband.

"Shall I not have what music and dances I want at my own balls?" asked
the princess.

"That you shall, sister mine; that you shall," answered the king. "Go
on master, and if the girl likes to dance that way, in God's name let
her have her wish. It will never hurt her; we will learn it ourself,
and will wear the ladies out a-dancing."

After Mary had finished the opening dance there was a great demand for
instruction. The king asked Brandon to teach him the steps, which he
soon learned to perform with a grace perhaps equaled by no living
creature other than a fat brown bear. The ladies were at first a
little shy and inclined to stand at arm's length, but Mary had set the
fashion and the others soon followed. I had taken a fiddler to my room
and had learned the dance from Brandon; and was able to teach it also,