“I remember her,” said Ruth.
“Little lady seen Zaliska since that day—heh?”
“What do you want to know for?” demanded Ruth, puzzled, yet standing her ground. She remembered in a flash all her suspicions regarding the young girl who masqueraded as the Gypsy Queen.
“Zaliska come here, heh?” said the man, doggedly, and with something besides curiosity in his narrow eyes.
“I don’t know why I should tell you if she had been here,” declared Ruth, while Agnes clung to her arm in fear.
“The little lady would fool Big Jim. No! We want find Zaliska.”
“Don’t come here for her,” said Ruth, sharply. “She’s not here.”
“But she been here—heh?” repeated the fellow. “She come here like she was dressed at the camp—heh? Then she go away different—heh?”
Ruth knew well enough what he meant. He hinted that the masquerading girl had come here to see Ruth, and discarded her queen’s garments and slipped away in her own more youthful character.
“I’m not sure that I know what you mean,” she said to the evil-faced man. “But one thing I can tell you—and you can believe it. I have not seen Zaliska since that day we girls came by your camp.”