I will say the Haikan numbers up to ten. There--have you
heard them?'

'Yes.'

'Well, try and repeat them.'

'I only remember number one,' said Belle, 'and that because it is me.'

'I will repeat them again,' said I, 'and pay greater attention. Now, try
again.'

'Me, jergo, earache.'

'I neither said jergo nor earache. I said yergou and yerek. Belle, I am
afraid I shall have some difficulty with you as a scholar.'

Belle made no answer. Her eyes were turned in the direction of the
winding path which led from the bottom of the hollow, where we were
seated, to the plain above. 'Gorgio shunella,' she said at length, in a
low voice.

'Pure Rommany,' said I; 'where?' I added, in a whisper.

'Dovey odoi,' said Belle, nodding with her head towards the path.

'I will soon see who it is,' said I; and starting up, I rushed towards
the pathway, intending to lay violent hands on any one I might find
lurking in its windings. Before, however, I had reached its
commencement, a man, somewhat above the middle height, advanced from it
into the dingle, in whom I recognised the man in black whom I had seen in
the public-house.

CHAPTER NINETY

BUONA SERA--RATHER APPREHENSIVE--THE STEEP BANK--LOVELY
VIRGIN--HOSPITALITY--TORY MINISTER--CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY--SNEERING
SMILE--WANDERING ZIGAN--GYPSIES' CLOAKS--CERTAIN FACULTY--ACUTE
ANSWER--VARIOUS WAYS--ADDIO--THE BEST HOLLANDS

The man in black and myself stood opposite to each other for a minute or
two in silence; I will not say that we confronted each other that time,
for the man in black, after a furtive glance, did not look me in the
face, but kept his eyes fixed apparently on the leaves of a bunch of
ground-nuts which were growing at my feet. At length, looking around the
dingle, he exclaimed, 'Buona sera, I hope I don't intrude.'

'You have as much right here,' said I, 'as I or my companion; but you had
no right to stand listening to our conversation.'

'I was not listening,' said the man, 'I was hesitating whether to advance
or retire; and if I heard some of your conversation, the fault was not
mine.'

'I do not see why you should have hesitated if your intentions were
good,' said I.

'I think the kind of place in which I found myself might excuse some
hesitation,' said the man in black, looking around; 'moreover, from what
I had seen of your demeanour at the public-house, I was rather
apprehensive that the reception I might experience at your h