Note.—The last twenty dates are thus arrived at. There are two references to the lapse of a fortnight since June 29, which was the date of Borrow’s first visit to the public-house, and of Belle’s first Armenian lesson. ‘In about a fortnight Belle had hung up 100 Haikan numerals on the hake of her memory;’ while the landlord, on the
occasion when he suggests a fight between Borrow and Belle, complains that Hunter calls him an old fool, whereas a fortnight ago it was he who called Hunter a fool. The date, then, of this last visit of Borrow’s to the public-house must have been on or about July 13. The defeat of the landlord’s game-cocks has been noised abroad for the past three days (July 10, 11, 12), and since the landlord had referred ten days before to the fact that the fight was about to come off on the following Wednesday, it must have occurred on July 6. ‘One day’—not necessarily the 14th or 15th, but this date is unimportant—the Man in Black revisits the dingle, and then follow three uneventful days, on the last evening of which is the great thunderstorm (July 18). Henceforward the daily record is plain and straightforward, and definitely fixed by the mention of the Sunday on which Borrow and the gypsies attend the church of M—.
[Beginning of ‘Romany Rye.’]
57th day [Tuesday, July 19]. Makes linchpin; postillion departs; evening, Man in Black.
58th day [Wednesday, July 20]. Arrival of gypsies; Belle goes on short journey.
59th day [Thursday, July 21]. Gypsies feast at Ursula’s wedding.
60th to 61st day [Friday, July 22, to Saturday, July 23]. Uneventful.
62nd day [Sunday, July 24]. Afternoon church at M—; talk with Ursula under hedge; Belle returns at night.
63rd day [Monday, July 25]. Landlord in despair; evening, gypsies prepare for fair.
64th day [Tuesday, July 26]. Attends fair with gypsies; last view of Belle; sees horse.