Till Anne said,—"Now, Mary Bolton, don't you be turning the child's head, and making her think she is an angel all complete, just for such a little matter as that. I don't deny, it was kind in my little lady to work for your baby; but it is no more than she ought to do, seeing how much Mrs. Corbet does for her. Come, Lady Lucy; we must be on our way, if we are going to the village."
"Are you going across the common?" asked Mary Bolton. "You had better take the path through the plantation, I think. The gipsies on the common, and my little lady might be frightened."
"Gipsies?" asked Lucy, looking a little scared.
"Yes; and a wild lot they do look, to be sure. They say the old women are witches; and all the girls in the village are agog to have their fortunes told."
"Don't you be scared, Lady Lucy," said Anne. "They won't meddle with us, I dare say. By your leave, Mary Bolton, I would rather go across the common than the other way. I should not relish meeting any of those gentry in the woods. Betty Henwife will have to look sharp after her fowls, and the gamekeeper for his pheasants, now we have gipsies in the neighbourhood."
"Anne," said Lucy, after they had gone a little way, "do you suppose the gipsy-woman could tell me what has become of my mother's thimble?"
"I was just thinking of that very thing," returned Anne. "I should not wonder if she could; for they do tell wonderful things,—that is certain. See, there they are,—tents, donkeys, and all."
There they were, forming a picturesque group enough, with their ragged tents pitched under the shade of some old hawthorns, their donkeys and ponies tethered near by, and their kettle, boiling, suspended on sticks over the fire, with a tall old woman in a red cloak, just removing the cover and stirring the mess.
Half a dozen half-naked children lay about; and no sooner did they catch sight of Lucy than up they all jumped and ran towards her and Anne, begging vociferously. Another woman, still taller and older than the first, came striding towards them.
And Anne, calling to her, bade her call off the children, and the dogs, which were now adding their voices to the chorus.