Their looks swam for a moment. Something thrilled in them
both. The girl took a step nearer.
"You are as much a Romany here as I am," she said, touching her bosom
with a quick gesture. "You do not belong; you are too good for it.
How do I know? I do not know; I feel. I will tell your fortune," she
suddenly added, reaching for his hand. "I have only known three that
I could do it with honestly and truly, and you are one. It is no lie.
There is something in it. My mother had it; but it's all sham mostly."
Then, under a tree on the green, he indifferent to village gossip, she
took his hand and told him--not of his fortune alone. In half-coherent
fashion she told him of the past--of his life in the North. She then
spoke of his future. She told him of a woman, of another, and another
still; of an accident at sea, and of a quarrel; then, with a low, wild
laugh, she stopped, let go his hand, and would say no more. But her face
was all flushed, and her eyes like burning beads. Her father stood near,
listening. Now he took her by the arm.
"Here, Andree, that's enough," he said, with rough kindness; "it's no
good for you or him."
He turned to Gaston, and said in English:
"She's sing'lar, like her mother afore her. But she's straight."
Gaston lit a cigar.
"Of course." He looked kindly at the girl. "You are a weird sort,
Andree, and perhaps you are right that I'm a Romany too; but I don't
know where it begins and where it ends. You are not English gipsies?" he
added, to the father.
"I lived in England when I was young. Her mother was a Breton--not
a Romany. We're on the way to France now. She wants to see where her
mother was born. She's got the Breton lingo, and she knows some English;
but she speaks French mostly."
"Well, well," rejoined Gaston, "take care of yourself, and good luck to
you. Good-bye--good-bye, Andree." He put his hand in his pocket to give
her some money, but changed his mind. Her eye stopped him. He shook
hands with the man, then turned to her again. Her eyes were on him--hot,
shining. He felt his blood throb, but he returned the look with
good-natured nonchalance, shook her hand, raised his hat, and walked
away, thinking what a fine, handsome creature she was. Presently he
said: "Poor girl, she'll look at some fellow like that one day, with
tragedy the end thereof!"
He then fell to wondering about her almost uncanny divination. He
knew that all his life he himself had had strange memories, a
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