"I met him when I rode like a queen in an open chariot in a procession.
That is, he saw me, and, like the queens in the old stories, he managed
to get a note to me. Then I had him come to the park we were quartered
in. And since then--but it does seem so long!"

"Could not Lena take a letter for me?" asked Cora timidly.

"Oh, no! They would punish her very severely if she interfered in your
case. You see, Salvo must be avenged and released from jail. I always
hated Salvo!"

Cora was silent. Presently the girl returned and placed the linen
tablecloth on the floor. Following her came the other girl, with a
tray of things. It was strange to see them set the table on the floor,
but Cora remembered that this was a custom of the wanderers. When the
breakfast had been arranged, the queen slipped down beside her coffee
like a creature devoid of bones.

She was very graceful and agile--like some animal of the forest. Cora
took her place, with limbs crossed, and felt like a Turk. But the
repast was not uninviting. The berries were fresh, and the milk was in
a clean bowl; in fact, everything showed that the queen's money had
bought the service.

They talked and ate. Helka was very gay, the letter must have
contained cheering news, and Cora was reminded how much she would have
loved to have had a single word from one of her dear ones. But she
must hope and wait.

"Do take some water cress," pressed the strange hostess, possibly
noting that Cora ate little. "I think this cress in America is one of
your real luxuries. We have never before camped at a place where it
could be gathered fresh from the spring." Daintily she laid some on
the green salad on a thin slice of the fresh bread, and after offering
the salt and pepper, placed the really "civilized" sandwich on the
small plate beside Cora. "There is just one thing I should love to go
into the world for," said the queen. "I would love to have my meals at
a hotel. I am savagely fond of eating."

"We had such a splendid hotel," answered Cora with a sigh. "It seems a
mockery that I cannot invite you there with me--that even I cannot go
myself. I keep turning the matter over and over in my mind, and the
more I think the more impossible it all seems."

"Nothing is impossible in Gypsy land," replied the queen, helping
herself to some berries. "And it may even not be impossible to do as
you suggest. But we must wait," and she smiled prettily. "You have a