To this great Captain of the guard it was but a scrap of paper.
He was glad to have it nevertheless, and, with all his self-restraint
and stoicism, could not conceal his pleasure.
Brandon at once accepted the invitation in a personal note to the
princess. The boldness of this actually took my breath, and it seems
at first to have startled Mary a little, also. As you must know by
this time, her "dignity royal" was subject to alarms, and quite her
most troublesome attribute--very apt to receive damage in her
relations with Brandon.
Mary did not destroy Brandon's note, despite the fact that her sense
of dignity had been disturbed by it, but after she had read it slipped
off into her private room, read it again and put it on her escritoire.
Soon she picked it up, reread it, and, after a little hesitation, put
it in her pocket. It remained in the pocket for a moment or two, when
out it came for another perusal, and then she unfastened her bodice
and put it in her bosom. Mary had been so intent upon what she was
doing that she had not seen Jane, who was sitting quietly in the
window, and, when she turned and saw her, she was so angry she
snatched the note from her bosom and threw it upon the floor, stamping
her foot in embarrassment and rage.
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