Now that he had unintentionally offended her, and had permitted her to go without an explanation, she was dearer to him than ever, and, as he sat there with his face in his hands, he knew that if matters went on as they were going, the time would soon come when he would throw caution to the dogs and would try the impossible—­to win her for his own.  Caution and judgment still sat enthroned, and they told him now what he knew full well they would not tell him after a short time—­that failure was certain to follow the attempt, and disaster sure to follow failure.  First, the king would, in all probability, cut off his head upon an intimation of Mary’s possible fondness for him; and, second, if he should be so fortunate as to keep his head, Mary could not, and certainly would not, marry him, even if she loved him with all her heart.  The distance between them was too great, and she knew too well what she owed to her position.  There was but one thing left—­New Spain; and he determined while sitting there to sail with the next ship.

The real cause of Brandon’s manner had never occurred to Mary.  Although she knew her beauty and power, as she could not help but know it—­not as a matter of vanity, but as a matter of fact—­yet love had blinded her where Brandon was concerned, and that knowledge failed to give her light as to his motives, however brightly it might illumine the conduct of other men toward whom she was indifferent.

So Mary was angry this time; angry in earnest, and Jane felt the irritable palm more than once.  I, too, came in for my share of her ill temper, as most certainly would Brandon, had he allowed himself to come within reach of her tongue, which he was careful not to do.  An angry porcupine would have been pleasant company compared with Mary during this time.  There was no living with her in peace.  Even the king fought shy of her, and the queen was almost afraid to speak.  Probably so much general disturbance was never before or since collected within one small body as in that young Tartar-Venus, Mary.  She did not tell Jane the cause of her vexation, but only said she “verily hated Brandon,” and that, of course, was the key to the whole situation.

After a fortnight, this ill-humor began to soften in the glowing warmth of her heart, which was striving to reassert itself, and the desire to see Brandon began to get the better of her sense of injury.

Brandon, tired of this everlasting watchfulness to keep himself out of temptation, and, dreading at any moment that lapse from strength which is apt to come to the strongest of us, had resolved to quit his place at court and go to New Spain at once.  He had learned, upon inquiry, that a ship would sail from Bristol in about twenty days, and another six weeks later.  So he chose the former and was making his arrangements to leave as soon as possible.