She then learned for the first time that he was wounded, and
the tears came softly as she slipped from his arms to the ground. She
walked beside him quietly for a little time, then, taking his hand in
both of hers, gently lifted it to her lips and laid it upon her
breast. Half an hour afterward Brandon left the girls at Bridewell
House, went over to the Bridge where he had left his horse at a
hostelry, and rode down to Greenwich.
So Mary had made her trip to Grouche's, but it was labor worse than
lost. Grouche had told her nothing she wanted to know, though much
that he supposed she would like to learn. He had told her she had many
lovers, a fact which her face and form would make easy enough to
discover. He informed her also that she had a low-born lover, and in
order to put a little evil in with the good fortune, and give what he
said an air of truth, he added to Mary's state of unrest more than he
thought by telling her that her low-born lover was false. He thought
to flatter her by predicting that she would soon marry a very great
prince or nobleman, the indications being in favor of the former, and,
in place of this making her happy, she wished the wretched soothsayer
in the bottomless pit--he and all his prophecies; herself, too, for
going to him.
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