n
their path of the good looking young gypsy for whom the girl they had
been talking to was decorating the jacket.

His keen eyes devoured Dolly as he stood before her, and he put out his
hand, gently enough, to bar their way.

"Will you marry me?" he said, in English much better than that of most
of his tribe.

Dolly laughed, although Bessie looked serious.

"Oh, yes, of course," said Dolly. "I always marry the first man who asks
me, every day; especially if he's a gypsy and I've never seen him
before."

"You're too young now; you think you are, I suppose," said the gypsy,
showing his white teeth. "You come back with me and wait; by and by we
will get married."

"Nonsense," said Bessie, decisively. "He means it, Dolly, he's not
joking. Come, we must hurry."

"Wait, stay," said the gypsy, eagerly. And he put out his hand as if to
hold Dolly. But she screamed before he could touch her, and darted past
him. And in a moment both girls, running hard, were out of sight.

CHAPTER VI

A SERIOUS JOKE

Bessie, seriously alarmed, led the race through the woods and they had
gone for nearly a quarter of a mile before she would even stop to
listen. When she felt that if the gypsy were going to overtake them he
would have done it, she stopped, and, breathing hard, listened eagerly
for some sign that he was still behind them. But only the noises of the
forest came to their ears, the rustling of the leaves in the trees, the
call of a bird, the sudden sharp chattering of a squirrel or a chipmunk,
and, of course, their own breathing.

"I guess we got away from him all right," she said. "Oh, Dolly, I was
frightened!"

"What?" cried Dolly, amazed. "Do you mean to say that you let that silly
gypsy frighten you? I thought you were braver than that, Bessie!"

"You don't know anything about it, Dolly," said Bessie, a little
irritated. "It really wasn't your fault, but those people aren't like
our men. He probably meant just what he said, and if he thought you were
laughing at him, it would have made him furious. When you said you
would marry him, of course I knew you were joking, and so would anyone
like us, but I think he took you seriously. He thought you meant it!"

"Bessie! How absurd! He couldn't! Why, I won't marry anyone for ever so
long, and he surely doesn't think an American girl would ever marry one
of his nasty tribe! You're joking, aren't you! He couldn't ever have
really thought anything so perfectly ab