"Nothing that can possibly matter to you," retorted Miss Cass, who was not to be daunted by a gypsy. "Are you living here?"
"I live here at times," said the man, evidently surprised at the boldness of her address, "but mostly I'm on the road and in the tent of the Romany. I'm no Gorgio to care for a roof-tree; but it's cruel work in this England."
"I see the climate is killing you," replied Ruth, for she was sorry to see so fine a man suffering from an incurable disease. "You should get a doctor to see you."
"Oh, my gorgeous angel, what things you say!" whined the man. "Where am I to get the tizzy to pay? Give me a shilling, Miss."
The girl took a half-crown from her pocket and gave it to him. He disappeared from the window and came outside. Man and girl surveyed each other in silence.
"What is your name?" Ruth asked coolly.
"Job," he said. "I belong to the Lovels, I do. And I'm a Sapengro, I am."
"What's that?"
Job slipped his hand into his breast and brought out a small viper with gleaming eyes, and a yellow body which glittered like gold. "This is a sap," he said, and held the reptile towards Ruth.
"Oh, I see. You are the master of the snake."