"Young man, this is no laughing matter," was the sharp reply.
"Guess it isn't!" said Uncle Harry. "I've seldom been so discouraged. Here am I, a man who has a lovely wife and baby girl, and yet I've got to marry a red-haired girl, with a temper like chain lightning! Who was ever in a worse fix?"
The old gypsy flew into a rage. "You're poking fun at me!" she cried.
"There! There! The fun was worth that!" he cried, laying a handful of small coins on the table before her.
In her eagerness to count the money, she forgot her wrath, and they hastened from the tent, where, safely outside, they were free to laugh as much as they chose.
As they re-entered the large tent, they saw that near the centre, a space had been cleared, and there was a crowd of people waiting, as if expecting some attraction to be exhibited.
They had not long to wait, for almost immediately the Scotch piper appeared, and tightly clasping her precious new doll in her arms was wee Lois, dressed in Highland costume.
Placing her doll on a table, and making sure that it was safe, she ran forward, courtesied first to Uncle Harry, as she had promised, and then, to the music of the pipes, the wee lassie did the "Highland Fling."
She was such a round, dimpled little girl, one would never have dreamed that she could dance with such infantile grace.
And when she had finished, with another courtesy, they crowded around her, and it was Nancy who most generously praised her. Dear little Nancy, who danced like a fairy, never had a jealous thought in her loving heart!