f gipsy house on wheels
in which people live, while the house moves from place to place.

It was not a shabby, dingy, dusty cart, but a smart little house with
white dimity curtains hung over the windows, and window-shutters of
green picked out with panels of a staring red, in which
happily-contrasted colors the whole house shone brilliant. Neither was
it a poor caravan drawn by a single donkey or feeble old horse, for a
pair of horses in pretty good condition were released from the shafts
and grazing on the frouzy grass. Neither was it a gipsy caravan, for at
the open door (graced with a bright brass knocker) sat a Christian lady,
stout and comfortable to look upon, who wore a large bonnet trembling
with bows. And that it was not a caravan of poor people was clear from
what this lady was doing; for she was taking her tea. The tea-things,
including a bottle of rather suspicious looks and a cold knuckle of ham,
were set forth upon a drum, covered with a white napkin; and there, as
if at the most convenient round-table in all the world, sat this roving
lady, taking her tea and enjoying the prospect.

It happened at that moment that the lady of the caravan had her cup
(which, that everything about her might be of a stout and comfortable
kind, was a breakfast cup) to her lips, and that having her eyes lifted
to the sky in her enjoyment of the full flavor of her tea, it happened
that, being thus agreeably engaged, she did not see the travelers when
they first came up. It was not until she was in the act of setting down
the cup, and drawing a long breath after the exertion of swallowing its
contents, that the lady of the caravan beheld an old man and a young
child walking slowly by, and glancing at her proceedings with eyes of
modest, but hungry admiration.

"Hey!" cried the lady of the caravan, scooping the crumbs out of her lap
and swallowing the same before wiping her lips. "Yes, to be
sure------Who won the Helter-Skelter Plate, child?"

"Won what, ma'am?" asked Nell.

"The Helter-Skelter Plate at the races, child--the plate that was run
for on the second day."

"On the second day, ma'am?"

"Second day! Yes, second day," repeated the lady, with an air of
impatience. "Can't you say who won the Helter-Skelter Plate when you're
asked the question civilly?"

"I don't know, ma'am."

"Don't know!" repeated the lady of the caravan; "why, you were there. I
saw you with my own eyes."

Nell was not a little alarmed to h