play-loving king that he knew the latest French games. The French Duc
de Longueville had for some time been an honored prisoner at the
English court, held as a hostage from Louis XII, but de Longueville
was a blockhead, who could not keep his little black eyes off our fair
ladies, who hated him, long enough to tell the deuce of spades from
the ace of hearts. So Brandon was taken from his duties, such as they
were, and placed at the card table. This was fortunate at first; for
being the best player the king always chose him as his partner, and,
as in every other game, the king always won. If he lost there would
soon be no game, and the man who won from him too frequently was in
danger at any moment of being rated guilty of the very highest sort of
treason. I think many a man's fall, under Henry VIII, was owing to
the fact that he did not always allow the king to win in some trivial
matter of game or joust. Under these conditions everybody was anxious
to be the king's partner. It is true he frequently forgot to divide
his winnings, but his partner had this advantage, at least: there was
no danger of losing. That being the case, Brandon's seat opposite the
king was very likely to excite envy, and the time soon came, Henry
having learned the play, when Brandon had to face someone else, and
the seat was too costly for a man without a treasury. It took but a
few days to put Brandon _hors de combat_, financially, and he would
have been in a bad plight had not Wolsey come to his relief. After
that, he played and paid the king in his own coin.

This great game of "honor and ruff" occupied Henry's mind day and
night during a fortnight. He feasted upon it to satiety as he did with
everything else; never having learned not to cloy his appetite by
over-feeding. So we saw little of Brandon while the king's fever
lasted, and Mary said she wished she had remained silent about the
cards. You see, she could enjoy this new plaything as well as her