“Jane, some one is following us,” she whispered.

“Yes,” answered Jane, with an unconcern that surprised Mary, for she knew Jane was a coward from the top of her brown head to the tip of her little pink heels.

“Oh, if I had only taken your advice, Jane, and had never come to this wretched place; and to think, too, that I came here only to learn the worst.  Shall we ever get home alive, do you think?”

They hurried on, the man behind them taking less care to remain unseen than he did when coming.  Mary’s fears grew upon her as she heard his step and saw his form persistently following them, and she clutched Jane by the arm.

“It is all over with us, I know.  I would give everything I have or ever expect to have on earth for—­for Master Brandon at this moment.”  She thought of him as the one person best able to defend her.

This was only too welcome an opportunity, and Jane said:  “That is Master Brandon following us.  If we wait a few seconds he will be here,” and she called to him before Mary could interpose.

Now this disclosure operated in two ways.  Brandon’s presence was, it is true, just what Mary had so ardently wished, but the danger, and, therefore, the need, was gone when she found that the man who was following them had no evil intent.  Two thoughts quickly flashed through the girl’s mind.  She was angry with Brandon for having cheated her out of so many favors and for having slighted her love, as she had succeeded in convincing herself was the case, all of which Grouche had confirmed by telling her he was false.  Then she had been discovered in doing what she knew she should have left undone, and what she was anxious to conceal from every one; and, worst of all, had been discovered by the very person from whom she was most anxious to hide it.

So she turned upon Jane angrily:  “Jane Bolingbroke, you shall leave me as soon as we get back to Greenwich for this betrayal of my confidence.”

She was not afraid now that the danger was over, and feared no new danger with Brandon at hand to protect her, for in her heart she felt that to overcome a few fiery dragons and a company or so of giants would be a mere pastime to him; yet see how she treated him.  The girls had stopped when Jane called Brandon, and he was at once by their side with uncovered head, hoping for, and, of course, expecting, a warm welcome.  But even Brandon, with his fund of worldly philosophy, had not learned not to put his trust in princesses, and his surprise was benumbing when Mary turned angrily upon him.

“Master Brandon, your impudence in following us shall cost you dearly.  We do not desire your company, and will thank you to leave us to our own affairs, as we wish you to attend exclusively to yours.”

This from the girl who had given him so much within less than a week!  Poor Brandon!

Jane, who had called him up, and was the cause of his following them, began to weep.