CHAPTER XXXI
BARTRAM-HAUGH
In a moment a tall, lithe girl, black-haired, black-eyed, and, as I thought, inexpressibly handsome, was smiling, with such beautiful rings of pearly teeth, at the window; and in her peculiar accent, with a suspicion of something foreign in it, proposing with many courtesies to tell the lady her fortune.
I had never seen this wild tribe of the human race before—children of mystery and liberty. Such vagabondism and beauty in the figure before me! I looked at their hovels and thought of the night, and wondered at their independence, and felt my inferiority. I could not resist. She held up her slim oriental hand.
‘Yes, I’ll hear my fortune,’ I said, returning the sibyl’s smile instinctively.
‘Give me some money, Mary Quince. No, not that,’ I said, rejecting the
