k
gave shade and welcome to the dusty pilgrims of the road; or, when the
wild winds blew in winter, gave shelter and wood for the fire, and a
sense of homeliness among the companionable trees.

He had seen himself and this beautiful Romany 'chi' at some village
fair, while the lesser Romany folk told fortunes, or bought and sold
horses, and the lesser still tinkered or worked in gold or brass; he had
seen them both in a great wagon with bright furnishings and brass-girt
harness on their horses, lording it over all, rich, dominant and
admired. In his visions he had even seen a Romany babe carried in his
arms to a Christian church and there baptized in grandeur as became the
child of the head of the people. His imagination had also seen his own
tombstone in some Christian churchyard near to the church porch, where
he would not be lonely when he was dead, but could hear the gossip of
the people as they went in and out of church; and on the tombstone some
such inscription as he had seen once at Pforzheim--"To the high-born
Lord Johann, Earl of Little Egypt, to whose soul God be gracious and
merciful."

To be sure, it was a strange thing for a Romany to be buried in a
Gorgio churchyard; but it was what had chanced to many great men of the
Romanys, such as the high-born Lord Panuel at Steinbrock, and Peter of
Kleinschild at Mantua--all of whom had great emblazoned monuments
in Christian churches, just to show that in all-levelling death they
condescended from high estate to mingle their ashes with the dust of the
Gorgio.

He had sought out his chieftain here in the new world in a spirit of
adventure, cupidity and desire. He had come like one who betrays, but he
acknowledged to a higher force than his own and to superior rights when
Gabriel Druse's strong arm brought him low; and, waking to life and
consciousness again, he was aware that another force also had levelled
him to the earth. That force was this woman's spirit which now gave him
his freedom so scornfully; who bade him begone and tell their people
everywhere that she was no longer a Romany, while she would go, no
doubt--a thousand times without doubt unless he prevented it--to the
swaggering Gorgio who had saved her on the Sagalac.

She stood waiting for him to go, as though he could not refuse his
freedom. As a bone is tossed to a dog, she gave it to him.

"You have no right to set me free," he said coolly now. "I am not your
prisoner. You tell me to take that