One could see that this trouble still lay heavily upon her, and that she derived a melancholy satisfaction from speaking of the little one who had been so much to her.
“Do you know,” said she, awaking from her temporary stupor, “I felt that I couldn’t stay alone in my van while the storm was going over, but I think I must be getting back now.”
Bidding me good night she held out her hand, saying—
“My husband will be at home to-morrow, he would like to have a talk with you; will you come and have tea with us? it isn’t much we’ve got to offer, but to what there is you’re quite welcome. Good night to you all.”
When the retreating footsteps could no longer be heard, Mrs. Vardomescro remarked—
“There’s still a few good folk left in the world and she’s one of ’em, and yet this has come to her. But the Almighty knows best.”
The storm being practically over, I stepped from the tent into the open, finding the air deliciously cool and refreshing, and as it was getting late I bade adieu to my friends—“and so home,” as the old diarist so quaintly expresses it.
Next evening I sought out the van occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Beshaley from among several drawn up in the same field. They had one of the most comfortable—not to say luxurious—vans I had ever entered; however, as the weather was gloriously fine, tea was, as usual, partaken of outside.
The man’s conversation interested me greatly, and although at times he expressed himself somewhat curiously, he was by no means an ignoramus.
“Look here,” said he, “some folks don’t like us gypsies, in fact many people are afraid of us, and perhaps it’s all the better for us and for them as well that it is so. I reckon the gorgios are conceited, they’ll tell you their way of living in houses is the best, but we know very well our way is the best, and to prove it let me ask you why do the doctors send people for what they call the open-air treatment? Why do they send hundreds and thousands o’ kiddies into the country every year from London? Bless me! you can very nearly see ’em grow and go brown. Why do they do this if their way is the best?