"Oh, she likes it," and the queen smiled. "Tonight it will be a treat.
But the men—the guards?"
"One went to gamble his money that you gave him; the other is out with his fishing pole. I have fixed it all."
"Good girl. You told him I wanted fish for breakfast, and you told the other he could spend his money at the inn. Lena, I wish you could come with us."
"I am going. I will not stay here."
"But in the morning, when they find three gone—what then?"
"In the morning," said Cora, "it does not matter what. We shall be safe some place. Yes, Lena, we will take you. This is no life for any girl."
Lena fell on her knees and kissed Cora's hands wildly. She had befriended Cora ever since she saw her lying so still and white in that awful wagon, and now she might get her reward.
"You will come up with tea when everything is safe," said Helka. "That will be our signal."
Lena went away with a smile on her thin lips. True, she was a real gypsy girl, but she longed for another life, and felt keenly the injustice of that to which she was enslaved.
"Then I will sing," said Cora. "See, the stars are coming out. The night will help us. I have marked every turn in the path. I pretended to be moving the stones from the grass, and I was placing them where I could feel them—in the dark."