"Whew! if that ain't pleasant! I always knew I'd be the death of somebody!" exclaimed Gipsy. "Wonder who it is going to be? Shouldn't be s'prised if 'twas Jupiter. I've been threatening to send him to Jericho ever since I can remember. La! if it comes true, won't Minette, and Archie and I be in a 'state of mind' one of these days! I say, Celeste, come over here, and let's have a little more of the horrible. I begin to like it."
"Yes, go, Celeste, go," said Archie, lifting her off her seat.
But Celeste, with a stifled cry of terror, covered her face with her hands, and shrank back.
"Coward!" exclaimed Minnette, with a scornful flash of her black eyes.
"Little goose!" said Gipsy, rather contemptuously; "what are you afraid of? Go! it won't hurt you."
"Oh, no, no!—no, no!—no, no!" cried the child, crouching farther back in terror. "It's too dreadful. I can't listen to such awful things."
"Let her stay," said Miss Hagar, seating herself moodily. "Time enough for her—poor, trembling dove!—to know the future when its storm-clouds gather darkly over her head. Let her alone. One day you may all think of my words to-night."
"There! there! don't make a fool of yourself any longer, Hagar," impatiently broke in the doctor. "Leave the little simpletons in peace, and don't bother their brains with such stuff."
"Stuff!" repeated Miss Hagar, her eyes kindling with indignation. "Take care; lest I tell you a fate more awful still. I speak as I am inspired; and no mortal man shall hinder me."
"Well, croak away," said her brother, angrily, "but never again in my presence. I never knew such an old fool!" he muttered to himself in a lower tone.