n another they must needs stay by the roadside,
and could not get on to the gardens.

"They're a handsome set," said Aveline, taking out her camera, which
she had brought with her. "Just look at the children!"

"It's the mother that attracts me most," said Raymonde.

The woman, indeed, was a beautiful specimen of Romany blood, tall and
dark, with great flashing eyes and coarse black hair. She resembled a
man more than the gentler sex. She wore a very short red skirt, and
had a little barrel hung over her shoulder by a strap.

"I wish I'd brought my camera!" murmured Raymonde. "I simply hadn't
room to stuff it in. It was a choice between it and my night-gear, and
I thought Gibbie'd treat me to jaw-wag if I left out my pyjamas."

Aveline descended from the trap to take her photo, hoping to get a
snapshot of the gipsies, just as they were, grouped in dramatic
attitudes round the dead horse. At the sight of two well-dressed
strangers, however, the tribal instincts asserted themselves, and the
woman was pushed hurriedly forward by the rest.

"Tell your fortune, my pretty lady!" she began to Aveline in a
half-bold, half-wheedling voice. "Cross the poor gipsy's hand with a
shilling and she'll read the stars for you!"

"No, thanks!" said Aveline, rather scared by the woman's jaunty,
impudent manner. "I only wanted to take a photo."

"Cross the gipsy's hand first, lady, before you take her photo. Don't
you want to know the future, lady? I can read something in your face
that will surprise you. Just a shilling, lady--only a shilling!"

The rest of the tribe were approaching the trap and begging from
Raymonde, looking so rough and importunate that the girls began to be
thoroughly alarmed, and afraid for the safety of the money they had
brought with them. Aveline regretted her folly in having dismounted
from the gig, and backed towards it again, pestered by the gipsy. She
did not want a photo now, only to get away as swiftly as possible. But
that the dark-eyed crew did not seem disposed to allow. A dusky hand
was laid on the pony's reins, and a voluble tongue poured forth a
jumble of planets and predictions. The situation had grown extremely
unpleasant for the girls, when fortunately a cart was seen coming in
the distance. The gipsies melted away instantly, Aveline jumped into
the trap, and Raymonde whipped up Dandy, who evidently resenting on
his own account the tribe's interference, set off at a swinging pace,
and soon