ed to herself in a
language of her own. She took no notice of Bilk as he drew near
tremblingly, and it was not until the old man had nudged her vehemently,
and both had indulged in a long fit of coughing, that she at last
growled, without even lifting her head--

"I see nothing unless for silver."

It said a great deal for Bilk's quickness of apprehension that he at
once guessed this vague observation to refer to the sixpence he had not
yet offered. He drew it out and handed it to the old woman, and was
about to offer an apology at the same time, when the man put his hand to
his mouth and snarled--

"Not a word."

The old woman took the coin in her trembling hand, and bent her head
over it in silence. Bilk began to get uneasy. The time was passing,
and he would have to start back in a very few moments. Could it be
possible these gipsies, now they had his sixpence, were going to refuse
to tell him the fortune for which he had longed and risked so much?

No! After a long pause the old woman lifted up her hand and said
something in gibberish to her partner. It was a long time coming, for
they both coughed and groaned violently during the recital. At length,
however, the old man turned to Bilk and said gruffly--

"Kneel."

The boy obeyed, and the old man proceeded.

"She says a great danger threatens you this night. If you escape it,
you will live to be a baronet or member of parliament, and perhaps you
will marry a duke's daughter; but she can't be certain of that. If you
don't escape it, you will be in a lunatic asylum next week, and never
come out. Not a word," added he, as Bilk once more showed signs of
breaking silence. "Wait till she speaks again."

Another long pause, and then another long recital in gibberish by the
old woman, broken by the same coughing and groaning as before. Then the
man said--

"Stand up, and hold your hands above your head."

Bilk obeyed.

"You want to know how to escape the peril?" said the man.

Bilk, with his hands still up, nodded.

"To-night at nine o'clock you will hear a bell."

Again Bilk nodded. Fancy the gipsies knowing that!

"You will go up to a small room with a chair and a bed in it, and
undress."

A pause, and another nod from the astonished Bilk.

"You will put on a long white robe coming down to your ankles. At half-
past nine the place will be dark--as black as pitch."

Bilk shuddered a little at the prospect.

"Then will be the time t