With those that stretch the neck and strain the eyes,
And crack the voice in rivalship ...
the prelude
AFTER the village children had disappeared into the wood, Clare turned to join her brothers. She found them clustered round Fieldmouse and Robin.
“Whose fortune shall I tell now, good people?” Mousie was saying, her upper lip drawn into a point, so that her mouth was shaped like the tiniest V.
“Mine, please,” said Clare, “how do you do it?”
“O,” said Rob; “she learnt it in our great adventure; she learnt it from the gipsies. Didn’t you know we’d had a great adventure?”
“No, when?”
“We were stolen by gipsies, and kept away from Mother and Father a whole six weeks,” said Robin.