ey sat down apart, and
were in earnest conversation for more than an hour.

"Japhet," said Melchior to me, after he had quitted his wife, "what I am
about to tell you will surprise you. I have trusted you with all I dare
trust anyone, but there are some secrets in every man's life which had
better be reserved for himself and her who is bound to him by solemn
ties. We must now part. In a few days this camp will be broken up, and
these people will join some other division of the tribe. For me, you
will see me no more. Ask me not to explain, for I cannot."

"And Nattee," said I.

"Will follow my fortunes, whatever they may be--you will see her no
more."

"For myself I care not, Melchior; the world is before me, and remain
with the gipsies without you I will not: but answer me one question--
what is to become of little Fleta? Is she to remain with the tribe, to
which she does not belong, or does she go with you?"

Melchior hesitated. "I hardly can answer; but what consequence can the
welfare of a soldier's brat be to you?"

"Allowing her to be what you assert, Melchior, I am devotedly attached
to that child, and could not bear that she should remain here. I am
sure that you deceived me in what you stated; for the child remembers,
and has told me, anecdotes of her infancy, which proves that she is of
no mean family, and that she has been stolen from her friends."

"Indeed, is her memory so good?" replied Melchior, firmly closing his
teeth. "To Nattee or to me she has never hinted so much."

"That is very probable; but a stolen child she is, Melchior, and she
must not remain here."

"Must not!"

"Yes; must not, Melchior: when you quit the tribe, you will no longer
have any power, nor can you have any interest about her. She shall then
choose--if she will come with me, I will take her, and nothing shall
prevent me; and in so doing I do you no injustice, nor do I swerve in my
fidelity."

"How do you know that? I may have my secret reasons against it."

"Surely you can have no interest in a soldier's brat, Melchior?"

Melchior appeared confused and annoyed. "She is no soldier's brat: I
acknowledge, Japhet, that the child was stolen; but you must not,
therefore, imply that the child was stolen by me or by my wife."

"I never accused you, or thought you capable of it; and that is the
reason why I am now surprised at the interest you take in her. If she
prefers to go with you, have no more to say, but