leaves and branches of trees, which none of the other
gypsy people did; so, when I saw my husband's patteran, I knew it at
once, and I followed it upwards of two hundred miles towards the north;
and then I came to a deep, awful-looking water, with an overhanging bank,
and on the bank I found the patteran, which directed me to proceed along
the bank towards the east, and I followed my husband's patteran towards
the east; and before I had gone half a mile, I came to a place where I
saw the bank had given way, and fallen into the deep water. Without
paying much heed I passed on, and presently came to a public-house, not
far from the water, and I entered the public-house to get a little beer,
and perhaps to tell a dukkerin, for I saw a great many people about the
door; and when I entered I found there was what they calls an inquest
being held upon a body in that house, and the jury had just risen to go
and look at the body, and being a woman, and having a curiosity, I
thought I would go with them, and so I did; and no sooner did I see the
body than I knew it to be my husband's; it was much swelled and altered,
but I knew it partly by the clothes and partly by a mark on the forehead,
and I cried out, "It is my husband's body," and I fell down in a fit, and
the fit that time, brother, was not a seeming one.'

'Dear me,' said I, 'how terrible! but tell me, Ursula, how did your
husband come by his death?'

'The bank, overhanging the deep water, gave way under him, brother, and
he was drowned; for, like most of our people, he could not swim, or only
a little. The body, after it had been in the water a long time, came up
of itself, and was found floating. Well, brother, when the people of the
neighbourhood found that I was the wife of the drowned man, they were
very kind to me, and made a subscription for me, with which, after having
seen my husband buried, I returned the way I had come, till I met Jasper
and his people, and with them I have travelled ever since: I was very
melancholy for a long time, I assure you, brother; for the death of my
husband preyed very much upon my mind.'

'His death was certainly a very shocking one, Ursula; but, really, if he
had died a natural one, you could scarcely have regretted it, for he
appears to have treated you barbarously.'

'Women must bear, brother; and, barring that he kicked and beat me, and
drove me out to tell dukkerin when I could scarcely stand, he was not a
bad husband. A m