THE GIPSY GIRL.
BY PERCIE H. SElton.
It was a summer evening. The scene was a rural lane in old England, overshadowed by hoary trees, which might have dated back to the time of the conqueror. As the soft mellow light of sunset streamed betwixt the moss-grown trunks of the trees, a young man, attired in a shooting jacket, and mounted on a sturdy pony, might have been seen slowly pacing down the lane. But although there was nothing peculiar in his attire, it was not so with his face and air, both of which were obviously above the common order. His features, indeed, were singularly handsome. A dark eye, a broad forehead, and a fine contour of face were united to a frank, good-humored expression of countenance that prepossessed the gazer at once in his favor. He jogged on for some time listlessly, when suddenly his eye caught the glare of a gipsy fire through the woods.
"Ha," he said, " are these pilferers again about ? I will have them driven off this very night. The villains ! Our house has suffered enough by them." "Shall I tell your fortune, good sir ?" said a clear, silvery voice, suddenly interrupting the muttered soliloquy of the speaker. The young man had by this time reached a rustic gate, opening out on a glade in the woods, and, as the voice which he knew to be that of a female addressed him, he looked up in some surprise. "Kind sir, will you have your fortune told ?" said the same silvery voice again, and, as the eye of the young man fell on the speaker, she blushed until the clear blood shone through her dark Andalusian skin. The young baronet, for such was the rank of the rider, gazed on her in surprise, and as he marked the beauty of the speaker his maledictions against her race faded from his thoughts. The gipsy girl was indeed a splendid creature. Those only who have looked on the divine sibyl in the Vatican can form an idea of the wild and overpowering beauty of the young Hungarian. She was at that period of life when the girl has just budded into the woman, and when every charm has mellowed down into its most voluptuous beauty. Her dark lustrous eye, the Grecian mouth and chin, and the long silken hair flowing picturesquely down from her head dress, formed a picture, which, when viewed in the approaching twilight, had a beauty almost supernatural. The young man gazed on her for a moment, completely overpowered by her bewildering beauty, and then, scarce conscious of what he did, extended her his hand. She took it, looked at it a moment, and burst into tears. Still more surprised at this conduct, he gazed at her enquiringly a moment, and as he gazed he felt a strange interest in the gipsy girl. What could be her motive ?
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Was her agitation real or affected ? He was still doubtful to which to ascribe it when the girl raised her eyes still wet with tears, and controlling her emotion by a violent effort, said, " Pardon me, but I am not what I seem-this life is * hateful to me-I cannot tell your fortune. You are young and happy, may you never be otherwise, go, and God's blessing go with you." The girl spoke almost incoherently. If his interest had been awakened before, it was now tenfold increased. But the fear that all this was a well acted part, induced him to reply in a severer strain than his feelings dictated . "Why are you not what you seem ?" he said, " and why, if you hate the life you lead, did you waylay me here to tell my fortune ?" The gipsy looked proudly up at this, and her dark eye flashed as she replied, " To save your property, perhaps your life," and looking cautiously around as if to see whether the very leaves did not wait to listen, she laid her hand on his arm , and whispered, "There is a plot to waylay you, and to-night it is to be executed. Do not pursue your way through the wood as you had intended , but return at once to the Hall. Believe me, oh ! believe me," she continued , becoming more earnest in her language , although her cheek grew red, and her voice quivered with emotion-" you may think me unworthy of credit because I come of a hated race, but, as I said before, I am not of them, though alas ! I know not who I am. Do not think that I am an agent to lead you into danger ," she continued , as she saw a look of incredulity on the young man's face, " as there is a God above us, I warn you aright. I know not why I have ventured thus boldly to accost you, unless it is that something in these old woods, in this flowery lane reminds me of happy days I once enjoyed when I was a child, in some country retreat not unlike this. I heard the plot formed to waylay you, and as you had passed here last night, and as I understood you would pass here again this evening on your way to the village, I determined to wait for you and fore-warn you of your danger . I cannot say more, for it might lead them to suspect me. Keep on till the next turning and then strike back to the Hall. Oh! do not- do not neglect this, adieu." During this hurried and agitated speech the young man had been deprived of the power of utterance by the variety of emotions that had filled his bosom. The manner of the girl was that of one speaking the truth, but yet there was a lurking distrust of her in his mind. He would have spoken, however, when she ceased, and endeavored to have elicited something more from her which would convince him or not of her truth, but, as she finished the last word, she turned hastily away and disappeared in the woods, leaving her auditor undecided what course to take. Nor, after more than a minute's
