trangers amongst us three tonight!' she whispered with awan smile.
'We three! nay we are but two,' said Geoffrey with a shudder; hefeared to say more.
'Sit here,' said his wife as she put out the light. 'Sit here by thehearth and watch the gold growing. The silver moonlight is jealous!See, it steals along the floor towards the gold--our gold!' Geoffreylooked with growing horror, and saw that during the hours that hadpassed the golden hair had protruded further through the brokenhearth-stone. He tried to hide it by placing his feet over the brokenplace; and his wife, drawing her chair beside him, leant over andlaid her head on his shoulder.
'Now do not stir, dear,' she said; 'let us sit still and watch. Weshall find the secret of the growing gold!' He passed his arm roundher and sat silent; and as the moonlight stole along the floor shesank to sleep.
He feared to wake her; and so sat silent and miserable as the hoursstole away.
Before his horror-struck eyes the golden-hair from the broken stonegrew and grew; and as it increased, so his heart got colder andcolder, till at last he had not power to stir, and sat with eyes fullof terror watching his doom.
* * * * *
In the morning when the London doctor came, neither Geoffrey nor hiswife could be found. Search was made in all the rooms, but withoutavail. As a last resource the great door of the old hall was brokenopen, and those who entered saw a grim and sorry sight.
There by the deserted hearth Geoffrey Brent and his young wife satcold and white and dead. Her face was peaceful, and her eyes wereclosed in sleep; but his face was a sight that made all who saw itshudder, for there was on it a look of unutterable horror. The eyeswere open and stared glassily at his feet, which were twined withtresses of golden hair, streaked with grey, which came through thebroken hearth-stone.
The Gipsy Prophecy
'I really think,' said the Doctor, 'that, at any rate, one of usshould go and try whether or not the thing is an imposture.'
'Good!' said Considine. 'After dinner we will take our cigars andstroll over to the camp.'
Accordingly, when the dinner was over, and the _La Tour_ finished,Joshua Considine and his friend, Dr Burleigh, went over to the eastside of the moor, where the gipsy encampment lay. As they wereleaving, Mary Considine, who had walked as far as the end of thegarden where it opened into the laneway, called after her husband:
'Mind, Joshua, you are to give them a fair chance, but don't give themany clue to a fortune--and don't you get flirting with any of thegipsy maidens--and take care to keep Gerald out of harm.'
For answer Considine held up his hand, as if taking a stage oath, andwhistled the air of the old song, 'The Gipsy Countess.' Gerald joinedin the strain, and then, breaking into merry laughter, the two menpassed along the laneway to the common, turning now and then to wavetheir hands to Mary, who leaned over the gate, in the twilight,looking after them.
It was a lovely evening in the summer; the very air was full of restand quiet happiness, as though an outward type of the peacefulness andjoy which made a heaven of the home of the young married folk.Considine's life had not been an eventful one. The only disturbingelement which he had ever known was in his wooing of Mary Winston, andthe long-continued objection of her ambitious parents, who expected abrilliant match for their only daughter. When Mr. and Mrs. Winston haddiscovered the attachment of the young barrister, they had tried tokeep the young people apart by sending their daughter away for a longround of visits, having made her promise not to correspond with herlover during her absence. Love, however, had stood the test. Neitherabsence nor neglect seemed to cool the passion of the young man, andjealousy seemed a thing unknown to his sanguine nature; so, after along period of waiting, the parents had given in, and the young folkwere married.
They had been living in the cottage a few months, and were justbeginning to feel at home. Gerald Burleigh, Joshua's old college chum,and himself a sometime victim of Mary's beauty, had arrived a weekbefore, to stay with them for as long a time as he could tear himselfaway from his work in London.
When her husband had quite disappeared Mary went into the house, and,sitting down at the piano, gave an hour to Mendelssohn.
It was but a short walk across the common, and before the cigarsrequired renewing the two men had reached the gipsy camp. The placewas as picturesque as gipsy camps--when in villages and when businessis good--usually are. There were some few persons round the fire,investing their money in prophecy, and a large number of others,poorer or more parsimonious, who stayed just outside the bounds butnear enough to see all that went on.
As the two gentlemen approached, the villagers, who knew Joshua, madeway a little, and a pretty, keen-eyed gipsy girl tripped up and askedto tell their fortunes. Joshua held out his hand, but the girl,without seeming to see it, stared at his face in a very odd manner.Gerald nudged him:
'You must cross her hand with silver,' he said. 'It is one of the mostimportant parts of the mystery.' Joshua took from his pocket ahalf-crown and held it out to her, but, without looking at it, sheanswered:
'You have to cross the gipsy's hand with gold.'
Gerald laughed. 'You are at a premium as a subject,' he said. Joshuawas of the kind of man--the universal kind--who can tolerate beingstared at by a pretty girl; so, with some little deliberation, heanswered:
'All right; here you are, my pretty girl; but you must give me a realgood fortune for it,' and he handed her a half sovereign, which shetook, saying:
'It is not for me to give good fortune or bad, but only to read whatthe Stars have said.' She took his right hand and turned it palmupward; but the instant her eyes met it she dropped it as though ithad been red hot, and, with a startled look, glided swiftly away.Lifting the curtain of the large tent, which occupied the centre ofthe camp, she disappeared within.
'Sold again!' said the cynical Gerald. Joshua stood a little amazed,and not altogether satisfied. They both watched the large tent. In afew moments there emerged from the opening not the young girl, but astately looking woman of middle age and commanding presence.
The instant she appeared the whole camp seemed to stand still. Theclamour of tongues, the laughter and noise of the work were, for asecond or two, arrested, and every man or woman who sat, or crouched,or lay, stood up and faced the imperial looking gipsy.
'The Queen, of course,' murmured Gerald. 'We are in luck tonight.' Thegipsy Queen threw a searching glance around the camp, and then,without hesitating an instant, came straight over and stood beforeJoshua.
'Hold out your hand,' she said in a commanding tone.
Again Gerald spoke, _sotto voce_: 'I have not been spoken to in thatway since I was at school.'