one. Some cotton bodices were similarly treated. Shoes were a knotty
problem, for gipsies do not generally affect trim footgear, yet nobody
at the Grange possessed worn-out or dilapidated boots. In the end
Raymonde carefully unpicked the stitches in her oldest pairs to give
them the requisite burst appearance, and with the aid of a file rubbed
the respectability from them. A dip in the mud of the moat completed
the transformation. Some cheap beads and coloured handkerchiefs, and a
faint wash of Vandyke brown over face and hands, gave the finishing
touches.

In the interval between preparation and supper, when several members
of the Sixth Form were pursuing carpentry and other industrial
occupations in the barn, Aveline Kerby entered to borrow a
screw-driver. She conversed casually on the topics of wood-carving,
photography, pressed flowers, and kindred hobbies; then, just as she
was leaving, turned back and remarked, apparently as an afterthought:

"Oh, by the by, do you know there are two gipsies in the cow-house?
They're from the caravan by the river. They came in through the back
gate, begging, and Morvyth happened to meet them. They offered to tell
her fortune, so she took them into the cow-house, so that Gibbie
shouldn't see them. She says they're marvellous. They described her
mother exactly, and her brother at the front. Isn't it wonderful now
they can do it?"

"Are they there still?" asked Veronica, swallowing the bait.

"I believe so. At least they were, five minutes ago. Elsie Moseley and
Cynthia Greene had gone to see them. I'd go myself, but I've spent all
my allowance, and of course one has to cross their palms with the
orthodox piece of silver, I suppose. It's hard luck to be stony-broke.
Ta-ta! Thanks for the screw-driver!"

Aveline beat a judicious retreat, and left her words to work. As she
had expected, the news of the arrival of the occultists was received
with interest.

"It's an extraordinary thing that gipsies are so often gifted with
psychic powers," commented Meta.

"They're children of nature," returned Veronica. "I suppose our
ultra-civilization blunts our astral perceptions. One finds marvellous
things among the hill tribes in India--things that can't be explained
by any known rules of science."

"I suppose these ancient races have inherited secrets that we can't
grasp?"

"Yes, they follow forgotten laws of nature. Some day, no doubt,
science will rediscover them."

Veronica spok