"By the Lord Harry! how did you find out all that?" gasped Jasper Wilde, in great amazement, his eyes staring hard, and his hands held out, as though to ward her off.
She laughed a harsh little laugh.
"That is not all I could tell if I wanted to, my bonny gentleman. You ought to know what is going on around you. I only charge a dollar to ladies and two dollars to gents. My place is close by. Will you come and let me read your future, sir?"
"Yes," returned Jasper Wilde. "But, hark you, if it is some thieves' den you want to entice me to, in order to rob me, I'll tell you here and now you will have a mighty hard customer to tackle, as I always travel armed to the teeth."
"The bonny gentleman need not fear the old gypsy," returned the woman, with convincing dignity.
Turning, he walked beside her to the end of the block.
She paused before a tall, dark tenement house, up whose narrow stair-way she proceeded to climb after stopping a moment to gather sufficient breath.
Jasper Wilde soon found himself ushered into a rather large room, which was draped entirely in black cloth hangings and decorated with mystic symbols of the sorceress's art.
An oil lamp, suspended by a wire from the ceiling, furnished all the light the apartment could boast of.
"Sit down," said the woman, pointing to an arm-chair on the opposite side of a black-draped table.