“Oh, yes; you may hope.  I tell you frankly it was delightful with you.  Now, are you satisfied, my modest one?  Jane, I see we have a forward body here; no telling what he will be at next,” said Mary, with evident impatience, rapidly swaying her fan.  She spoke almost sharply, for Brandon’s attitude was more that of an equal than she was accustomed to, and her royal dignity, which was the artificial part of her, rebelled against it now and then in spite of her real inclinations.  The habit of receiving only adulation, and living on a pinnacle above everybody else, was so strong from continued practice, that it appealed to her as a duty to maintain that elevation.  She had never before been called upon to exert herself in that direction, and the situation was new.  The servile ones with whom she usually associated maintained it for her; so she now felt, whenever she thought of it, that she was in duty bound to clamber back, at least part of the way, to her dignity, however pleasant it was, personally, down below in the denser atmosphere of informality.

In her heart the princess preferred, upon proper occasions, such as this, to abate her dignity, and often requested others to dispense with ceremony, as, in fact, she had done with us earlier in the evening.  But Brandon’s easy manner, although perfectly respectful and elegantly polite, was very different from anything she had ever known.  She enjoyed it, but every now and then the sense of her importance and dignity—­for you must remember she was the first princess of the blood royal—­would supersede even her love of enjoyment, and the girl went down and the princess came up.  Besides, she half feared that Brandon was amusing himself at her expense, and that, in fact, this was a new sort of masculine worm.  Really, she sometimes doubted if it were a worm at all, and did not know what to expect, nor what she ought to do.

She was far more girl than princess, and would have preferred to remain merely girl and let events take the course they were going, for she liked it.  But there was the other part of her which was princess, and which kept saying:  “Remember who you are,” so she was plainly at a loss between natural and artificial inclinations contending unconsciously within her.

Replying to Mary’s remark over Jane’s shoulder, Brandon said: 

“Your highness asked us to lay aside ceremony for the evening, and if I have offended I can but make for my excuse my desire to please you.  Be sure I shall offend no more.”  This was said so seriously that his meaning could not be misunderstood.  He did not care whether he pleased so capricious a person or not.

Mary made no reply, and it looked as if Brandon had the worst of it.

We sat a few minutes talking, Mary wearing an air of dignity.  Cards were proposed, and as the game progressed she gradually unbent again and became as affable and familiar as earlier in the evening.  Brandon, however, was frozen.  He was polite, dignified and deferential to the ladies, but the spirit of the evening was gone, since he had furnished it all with his free, off-hand manner, full of life and brightness.