"Well, it won't last long. I see by the cards you are in service now, though nobody would think it to look at you. People say fortunetellers are deceivers, and they may be sometimes; but it's the stars are at fault. And I'll tell you how, my dear. A wise woman looks at a hand, and she sees fortune writ there plain as the nose on your face, then she turns up the cards and sees fortune there again, and of course she thinks it safe enough, and she tells the party, for it's taken her some time to find out this much, and she don't stop to look no further, 'cos there's no time to spare to learn any more, and so the thing that ought to be done ain't known nothing about—ain't made itself seen, 'cos it wants looking for, and so a fortune's lost. Ah! Many a fortune's lost that way, my dear."
"But have you found out all about it for me?" asked Lizzie quickly; for it was getting dark now, and she had a long way to go home.
"Yes, my dear. I've got to the bottom of the matter at last, though it seemed as though the stars didn't want to disclose all their secrets about you;" and she went on talking about the "stars" as though they were intimate friends of hers, who could not resist her blandishments when she was determined to wring their secrets from them.
"But you have not told me what I am to do," said Lizzie, rising from her seat at last, and drawing her gloves over her fortunate hands.
"No, my dear. Because it's rather a disappointing thing I've got to tell you; and I'm soft-hearted enough to feel sorry when I see a girl disappointed, and maybe lose the fortune that's waiting for her, because she can't make up her mind to stretch out her hand and lay hold of it."
"Oh! I'm not like that," said Lizzie. "I'd get it, I know, if I had the chance!"
"Well, my dear, you certainly have got the chance. The fortune's there sure enough, but I can see it'll never drop into your lap. It wants seeking. You must go and meet it, for it will never come to you in this miserable town, nor while you are in service; I can see that plain enough."
"But what am I to do?" said Lizzie in a tone of perplexity.
"Well, I ain't quite clear about that yet," said the woman. "I must study the cards and the stars a bit deeper; such things as that ain't found out in a hurry."
"Oh! But I can't stop any longer," said Lizzie in a tone of alarm; for as she spoke a church clock struck nine, and she ought to have been home by this time.