"And where is the evil?"
"Much evil, much evil! You cannot be faithful."
"How do you know that?"
The fortune-teller shrugged her shoulders. "Here stands another lady, and there still another--you love them all. That ought not to be. Brings you no good luck."
"But about the varied life and early death, is that quite sure? Well then, the harm cannot be so very great. Here, take this as a reward for your good news."
"Thanks. Take only for good luck, which I foretell, not for ill luck."
"Then I do not wonder that you are so poor, my good woman. Then take it for the trouble I am giving Cziko."
The gypsy took the money with real or feigned reluctance, and called the boy, who had, in the mean time, continued to improvise new melodies on his instrument. She whispered a few words in his ear, in her own language, and at once the boy started up and said to Oswald: "Will you follow me, sir?"
"Good-by, my good woman," said Oswald, looking with a feeling of interest into the dark, brilliant eyes of the gypsy woman. "When you come to Grenwitz, you must not forget to ask for Doctor Stein."
The woman crossed her arms over her swelling bosom and bowed low. Oswald picked up his hat and followed Cziko, who was already half concealed by the trees.