Buckingham turned a shade paler as he replied:  “I do not meet such as you on the field of honor, and have no fear of your slander injuring me.”

He felt secure in the thought that the girls did not know who had attacked them, and could not corroborate Brandon in his accusation, or Mary, surely, never would have appealed to him for help.

I was with Brandon—­at a little distance, that is—­when this occurred, and after Buckingham had left, we went to find the girls in the forest.  We knew they would be looking for us, although they would pretend surprise when they saw us.  We soon met them, and the very leaves of the trees gave a soft, contented rustle in response to Mary’s low, mellow laugh of joy.

After perhaps half an hour, we encountered Buckingham with his lawyer-knight, Johnson.  They had evidently walked out to this quiet path to consult about the situation.  As they approached, Mary spoke to the duke with a vicious sparkle in her eyes.

“My Lord Buckingham, this shall cost you your head; remember my words when you are on the scaffold, just when your neck fits into the hollow of the block.”

He stopped, with an evident desire to explain, but Mary pointed down the path and said:  “Go, or I will have Master Brandon spit you on his sword.  Two to one would be easy odds compared with the four to one you put against him in Billingsgate.  Go!” And the battle was over, the foe never having struck a blow.  It hurt me that Mary should speak of the odds being two to one against Brandon when I was at hand.  It is true I was not very large, but I could have taken care of a lawyer.

Now it was that the lawyer-knight earned his bread by his wits, for it was he, I know, who instigated the next move—­a master stroke in its way, and one which proved a checkmate to us.  It was this:  the duke went at once to the king, and, in a tone of injured innocence, told him of the charge made by Brandon with Mary’s evident approval, and demanded redress for the slander.  Thus it seemed that the strength of our position was about to be turned against us.  Brandon was at once summoned and promptly appeared before the king, only too anxious to confront the duke.  As to the confinement of Brandon and his secret trial, the king did not care to hear; that was a matter of no consequence to him; the important question was, did Buckingham attack the princess?

Brandon told the whole straight story, exactly as it was, which Buckingham as promptly denied, and offered to prove by his almoner that he was at his devotions on the night and at the hour of the attack.  So here was a conflict of evidence which called for new witnesses, and Henry asked Brandon if the girls had seen and recognized the duke.  To this question, of course, he was compelled to answer no, and the whole accusation, after all, rested upon Brandon’s word, against which, on the other hand, was the evidence of the Duke of Buckingham and his convenient almoner.