The thing had enough irregularity to give it zest, for while Mary often had a few young people in her drawing-room, the companies were never so small as two couples only, and the king and queen, to make up for greater faults, were wonderful sticklers in the matter of little proprieties.

The ten-crown wager, too, gave spice to it, but to do her justice she cared very little for that.  The princess loved gambling purely for gambling’s sake, and with her, the next best thing to winning was losing.

When I went to my room that night, I awakened Brandon and told him of the distinguished honor that awaited him.

“Well!  I’ll be”—­but he did not say what he would “be.”  He always halted before an oath, unless angry, which was seldom, but then beware!—­he had learned to swear in Flanders.  “How she did fly at me the other morning.  I never was more surprised in all my life.  For once I was almost caught with my guard down, and did not know how to parry the thrust.  I mumbled over some sort of a lame retaliation and beat a retreat.  It was so unjust and uncalled-for that it made me angry; but she was so gracious in her amends that I was almost glad it happened.  I like a woman who can be as savage as the very devil when it pleases her; she usually has in store an assortment of possibilities for the other extreme.”

“She told me of your encounter,” I returned, “but said she had come off second best, and seemed to think her overthrow a huge joke.”

“The man who learns to know what a woman thinks and feels will have a great deal of valuable information,” he replied; and then turned over for sleep, greatly pleased that one woman thought as she did.

I was not sure he would be so highly flattered if he knew that he had been invited to settle a wager, and to help Mary to a little sport.

As to the former, I had an interest there myself, although I dared not settle the question by asking Brandon if he played cards and danced; and, as to the matter of Mary’s sport, I felt there was but little, if any, danger of her having too much of it at his expense, Brandon being well able to care for himself in that respect.

The next evening, at the appointed time, we wended our way, by an unfrequented route, and presented ourselves, as secretly as possible, at the drawing-room of the princess.

The door was opened by Lady Jane, and we met the two girls almost at the threshold.  I had told Brandon of the bantering conversation about the title and estates of the late Duke of Suffolk, and he had laughed over it in the best of humor.  If quick to retaliate for an intentional offense, he was not thin-skinned at a piece of pleasantry, and had none of that stiff, sensitive dignity, so troublesome to one’s self and friends.

Now, Jane and Mary were always bantering me because I was short, and inclined to be—­in fact—­round, but I did not care.  It made them laugh, and their laughing was so contagious it made me laugh, too, and we all enjoyed it.  I would give a pound sterling any time for a good laugh; and that, I think, is why I have always been—­round.