“My name?” I inquired.

“Hector O’Halloran.”

“Well, I was not aware you knew me. That knowledge is easily acquired. My profession?”

“Your father’s. Am I right?”

I bowed.

“What else do you require from me?” said the woman.

Isidora had turned pale; for the readiness with which each question had been answered, seemed to infer that the gipsy really possessed the intelligence she boasted.

“Come,” I said, “one question more, and that if answered shall make me a true believer;—tell me my age!”

“Well—let me think a moment,” she returned, and placing her open hand across her forehead, she seemed for a few moments to tax her memory, as if engaged in mental calculations.

“Ay, that was the year,” she muttered; then, turning to me, she coolly answered, “On Thursday next you will be twenty.”