"There is one."

I stepped across to the girl, who rose to meet me. I said nothing for a
few seconds, but looked at her intently, and then asked,--

"_Rakessa tu Romanes_, _miri pen_?" (Do you talk Romany, my sister?)

She gave one deep, long glance of utter astonishment, drew one long
breath, and, with a cry of delight and wonder, said,--

"_Romanichal_!"

That word awoke the entire company, and with it they found out who the
intruder was. "Then might you hear them cry aloud, 'The Moringer is
here!'" for I began to feel like the long-lost lord returned, so warm was
my welcome. They flocked around me; they cried aloud in Romany, and one
good-natured, smiling man, who looked like a German gypsy, mounting a
chair, waved a guitar by its neck high in the air as a signal of
discovery of a great prize to those at a distance, repeating rapidly,--

"_Av'akai_, _ava'kai_, _Romanichal_!" (Come here; here's a gypsy!)

And they came, dark and light, great and small, and got round me, and
shook hands, and held to my arms, and asked where I came from, and how I
did, and if it wasn't jolly, and what would I take to drink, and said how
glad they were to see me; and when conversation flagged for an instant,
somebody said to his next neighbor, with an air of wisdom, "American
Romany," and everybody repeated it with delight. Then it occurred to the
guitarist and the young lady that we had better sit down. So my first
acquaintance and discoverer, whose name was Liubasha, was placed, in
right of preemption, at my right hand, the _belle des belles_, Miss
Sarsha, at my left, a number of damsels all around these, and then three
or four circles of gypsies, of different ages and tints, standing up,
surrounded us all. In the outer ring were several fast-looking and
pretty Russian or German blonde girls, whose mission it is, I believe, to
dance--and flirt--with visitors, and a few gentlemanly-looking Russians,
_vieuz garcons_, evidently of the kind who are at home behind the scenes,
and who knew where to come to enjoy themselves. Altogether there must
have been about fifty present, and I soon observed that every word I
uttered was promptly repeated, while every eye was fixed on me.

I could converse in Romany with the guitarist, and without much
difficulty; but with the charming, heedless young ladies I had as much
trouble to talk as with their sisters in St. Petersburg. The young
gentleman already referred to, to whom in my fa