The Gypsy Queen's Vow. May Agnes Fleming

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СКАЧАТЬ some it is,” she said, in her low, sad voice.

      “And why, fairest saint?”

      “Do not ask me, my lord. Oh, Ernest! let me go, I am tired and sick, and very, very unhappy. Dearest Ernest, leave me, and never speak of this again.”

      “As you will, Lady Maude,” he said, with a bow, turning haughtily away.

      But a light touch, that thrilled to his very heart, was laid on his arm, and the low, sweet voice of Lady Maude said:

      “I have offended you, my lord; pray forgive me.”

      “I am not offended, Lady Maude Percy; neither have I anything to forgive,” he said; but his fine face was clouded with mortification. “You have rejected me, and I presume the matter ends there.”

      “But you are offended, I can hear it in your voice. Oh, Lord Villiers, if you knew how unhappy I am, you would forgive me the pain I have caused you.”

      Her tone touched him, and taking her hand gently, he said:

      “It is I who should ask forgiveness, Lady Maude. Yes, I will accept the friendship you offer, until such time as I can claim a better reward. Notwithstanding all you have said, I do not despair still.”

      He pressed her hand to his lips and was gone.

      “Excuse me, your lordship,” insinuated a most aristocratic footman in his ear, at that moment, “but there is an individual downstairs who persists on seeing the earl, and and won’t take no for an answer.”

      “Who is it?” inquired Lord Villiers, impatiently.

      “A gipsy, my lord, a desperate-looking old tramper, too.”

      “What’s that about gipsies?” said the unceremonious little Miss Jernyngham, passing at that moment. “You must know, my lord, I fairly dote on gipsies, ever since I saw that charming young man they are going to transport.”

      “How I wish I were a gipsy!” said Lord Villiers, gayly, “for such a reward.”

      “Pray spare your pretty speeches for Lady Maude Percy, my lord,” lisped Miss Jernyngham, giving him a tap with her fan; “but about this gipsy – is it a man or woman?”

      “A woman, Miss, they call her the gipsy queen, Ketura.”

      “A gipsy queen! oh, delightful!” cried the young lady, clapping her hands; “my lord, we must have her up, by all means. I insist on having my fortune told.”

      “Your slave hears but to obey, Miss Jernyngham,” said Lord Villiers, with a bow. “Jonson, go and bring the old lady up.”

      “Yes, me lud,” said Jonson, hurrying off.

      “George – George! do come here!” exclaimed the young lady, as her brother passed; “I want you!”

      “What’s all this about?” said the guardsman, lounging up. “My dear Clara, the way you do get the steam up at a moment’s notice is perfectly astonishing. What can I do for you?”

      “Do you want to have your fortune told?”

      “If any good sibyl would predict for me a rich wife, who would pay my debts, and keep me provided with kid gloves and cigars, I wouldn’t object; but in any other case – ”

      His speech was cut short by the sudden appearance of the footman with the gipsy queen, of whom he seemed considerably afraid. And truly not without reason; for a lioness in her lair might have looked about as safe an animal as the dark, fierce-eyed gipsy queen. Even the two young men started; and Miss Clara Jernyngham stifled a little scream behind her fan.

      “I wish to see Earl De Courcy,” was her abrupt demand.

      “And we wish our fortune told, good mother,” said Lord Villiers; “my father will attend to you presently.”

      “Your father!” said the woman, fixing her piercing eyes on his handsome face, “then you are Lord Villiers?”

      “You have guessed it. What has the future in store for me?”

      “Nothing good for your father’s son,” she hissed through her clenched teeth. “Give me your hand.”

      He extended it, with a smile, and she took it in hers, and peered into it. What a contrast they were! his, white, small, and delicate; her hand, bronzed and rough.

      “Well, mother, what has destiny in store for me?”

      “Much good or more evil. This night decides thy destiny; either thou shalt be blessed for life, or if the scale turns against thee – then woe to thee! Stand aside – the earl comes.”

      A tall, distinguished-looking man, of middle-age, approached, and looked with grave surprise on the group before him.

      “A word with you, lord-earl,” said the gipsy, confronting him.

      “Speak out, then.”

      “It must be in private.”

      “Who are you?” said the earl, surprised and curious.

      “I am called the gipsy queen, Ketura,” said the woman, drawing herself up.

      “And what do you want of me, woman?”

      “I tell you I must speak in private. Is your time so precious that you cannot grant ten minutes of it to me?” said the woman, with a fiercely-impatient flash of her black eyes.

      “This way, then,” said the earl, impressed by the woman’s commanding look and tones, as he turned and led the way across a wide, lighted hall to a richly-furnished library.

      Seating himself in a softly-cushioned lounging-chair, he waited for his singular visitor to begin.

      CHAPTER IV.

      THE GIPSY’S VOW

      “May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods

      Deny thee shelter! earth, a home! the dust,

      A grave! the sun, his light! and heaven, her God!”

– Byron.

      “Well, madam, I am waiting,” said the earl, after a pause, during which the wild, black eyes of the woman were fixed immovably on his face, until he began to grow uneasy under the steady glare.

      “Lord earl, behold at thy feet a mother who comes to plead for her son,” said the strange woman, sinking on her knees at his feet, and holding up her clasped hands.

      “Madam, I do not understand,” said the earl, surprised, and feeling himself obliged, as it were, to use a respectful form of address, by the woman’s commanding look.

      “My son is in your power! my darling, my only son! my first-born! Oh, spare him!” said the woman, still holding up her clasped hands.

      “Your son? Madam, I do not understand,” said the earl, knitting his brows in perplexity.

      “You have condemned him to transportation! And he is innocent – as innocent of the crime for which СКАЧАТЬ