“Suppose you can’t tell us anything pleasant?” said Bobby Hargrew, boldly. “Then we’d rather not know it.”
“But such pretty little ladies are bound to have pretty fortunes,” replied the Romany woman. “Come! for a shilling—two shillings, in your American money—I will tell you each what you want to know most.”
“You will?”
“Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your American money.”
“She means a quarter,” said Eve.
“You try it first, Mother Wit,” urged Nellie, nudging Laura.
At the words Grace Varey looked sharply at Laura Belding’s earnest face and thoughtful gray eyes. Instantly she said:
“You do not fear. You lead these others. You have a quick mind and you invent things. You are usually first in everything; but power does not spoil you. You win love as well as admiration—there is a difference. You have parents and at least one brother. You have no sister. There is a——” She shut her eyes for a moment, and hesitated. “There is a black person—a woman—who has something to do with you——”
“Beware of the ‘black man coming with a bundle,’” hissed Bobby, giggling.
“Hush!” exclaimed Jess. “She means Mammy Jinny, Laura’s old nurse.”