t golden
hair hung in wild disorder from the brilliant-hued kerchief that was
bound about her head; and her garments were as remarkable for their
peculiarity of form as for their diversity of color. She wore a short,
full dress of blue de laine bordered with yellow, and confined at the
waist by a red silk girdle. Over this, she wore a gray cape of coarse
woollen stuff. Her legs were bare, and her feet were protected only by
rude sandals, held in place by leathern thongs. Many rents, more or less
neatly repaired by the aid of thread or if material of another color,
revealed the fact that these faded garments had been in long and
constant use. Even the sandals were so dilapidated that the feet of
their wearer were upon the ground. Her whole attire, in short, was
wretched and poverty-stricken in the extreme.

But no face could be more charming. Her pure and delicate features shone
out from their framework of golden hair with marvellous beauty, in spite
of the sorrow and fatigue which had left their impress upon her face.
Her eyes, shaded by long dark lashes and dewy with tears, were
remarkably beautiful and expressive. The sunburn that disfigured her
charming face, her exquisitely formed hands and her tiny feet, which
were scarcely larger than those of a child, extended no further. Upon
those portions of her body that were protected by her clothing, her skin
was white and delicate, and scarcely colored by the young blood that
coursed through her veins. Such was this woman, and it would have been
difficult to divine her origin if the tambourine that hung at her
girdle, and the hieroglyphics embroidered upon her sleeves had not
revealed it beyond all question.

Tiepoletta, for that was her name, belonged to one of those wandering
tribes that leave Spain or Hungary each spring to spend some months in
Southern France, advancing as far as Beaucaire, Avignon and
Arles--sleeping as fate wills, under the arches of bridges, in
tumbledown barns, or in the open air; living sometimes by theft, but
oftener by their own exertions; the men dealing in mules and in rags;
the women telling fortunes, captivating young peasants, extorting money
from them, and selling glassware of their own manufacture--the children
imploring charity. These people, scattered throughout Europe--these
people, whose manner of life is so mysterious and whose origin is more
mysterious still--seem to be closely allied both to the Moors and to the
Hindoos, not only