“You sent word! Bravo,” exclaimed Charles with disdain. “You could not tell her to her face?”
“If he had come to Esmé with those words, she would have killed him!” asserted Esmé imperiously.
Howard flashed her an admiring glance. “You see, Charles? I knew my Esmé too well to risk confronting her! She’ll forget after a while, I thought, and no harm done.”
“But he did not know you so well, did he?” Charles said to Esmé.
“No!” replied Esmé fiercely. “Once a gypsy promises herself to a man, only death can break that promise! For weeks Howard did not come. I was so unhappy. Then my father arranged a bridegroom for me.
“So I told him I loved another – an outsider – ” Esmé sobbed. “I was banished! Banished! I came to these woods and found this cottage. The old woman was not troubled to have
