“No,” replied Barbara. “I am not afraid, if you are not.”
It was Zerlina, and, seeing the two people on the porch, she paused irresolutely.
“What is it, Zerlina?” called Barbara. “Do you want to see anyone?”
“My grandmother is over there,” replied the girl, pointing to the shrubbery. “She has come to tell fortunes, if it pleases the ladies.”
Zerlina did not look at Bab, as she spoke. She was looking at José, long and curiously. And he returned the gaze with interest.
“You have not seen Mr. Martinez, Zerlina?” asked Bab, recalling how he had stolen away in the woods when the Gypsy danced for them.
Zerlina bowed coldly, and José took off his cavalier hat; but neither said a word, and Bab felt somewhat embarrassed at the silence.
“Wait a moment, Zerlina, and I will ask the major about the fortunes,” she said, stepping through the French window. Just as she parted the curtain, she turned to say something to José, and saw Zerlina quickly hand him a note. Bab’s face flushed angrily.
“This business ought to be stopped,” she said to herself. “We’ll all be slain in our beds some fine night. Why can’t José be frank? The entire band of Gypsies might be a lot of robbers, for all we know.”
The revelers inside were all interested to know that Granny Ann had come at last to tell fortunes, and Zerlina was dispatched at once to bring her grandmother back. When the old woman passed through the room on her way to the library, where the fortunes were to be told, she took a rapid survey of everybody there. She examined the girls and boys in their masquerade costumes, looked curiously at Jimmie’s bandaged countenance, and finally her eyes rested on José leaning on a balcony rail outside.