"They are such deceptive people. How do you know the story about the child was true?"
"I doubted her at first. She read my mind in an instant, and assured me her story was correct. I do not think you would have doubted her had you been there."
"Father has a great aversion to them."
"And it is not unreasonable, but they are not all bad, there must be some decent people amongst them."
Winifred shrugged her shoulders. She did not like to think a mere gypsy woman had influenced his life to such an extent by a silly trick of palmistry.
"I shall hate all gypsies if you take her advice and go away," she said.
"She gave me no advice. She merely read the lines in my hand, and told me what she saw there."
"And said you would succeed and be rewarded when you returned home?"
"That is so. I shall look forward to the reward," he said.
She glanced at his face, but he was looking across the garden, over the fields beyond, and seemed lost in thought. She knew she would miss him very much. Suppose he never returned; met with a dreadful death in some inhospitable land. The mere thought of such a thing frightened her. She put her hand on his arm, saying quickly, and with a little shudder—