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Page 33
Rob and Betty had fallen a little behind the others, having spied a
bunch of four-leafed clovers, and Rob had dismounted to pick them, so
they did not hear the discussion that followed. Lloyd was not willing
to go without her mother's permission, remembering what had been said
about the camp the previous summer, but Eugenia had her way as she
usually did. Her influence over Lloyd was growing stronger every day.
Busily talking with Rob, as they followed along, Betty did not notice
where they were going, until the strumming of a banjo and loud singing
drew her attention to the fact that they were almost upon the gypsy
camp.
"Oh, we mustn't go in here!" she called, in alarm, seeing that the other
girls were dismounting, and the boys were hitching their ponies along
the fence.
"Why?" asked Joyce, pausing in the act of springing from the saddle.
"Godmother said we mustn't. Not an hour ago, she said it wasn't a proper
place for us, and that she wouldn't think for a moment of allowing Lloyd
to come. When she saw that we were disappointed, she planned an
entertainment for us to-night, and we agreed to it, both of us, Eugenia
and I. Eugenia knows she did."
There were some very curious glances exchanged in the little group, and
the boys drew to one side, leaving the girls to settle the matter
between them. Eugenia darted a glance at Betty that would have withered
her if it could.
"For goodness' sake don't make such an everlasting fuss about nothing,"
she exclaimed. "Come on; it will be all right."
"But Eugenia," interrupted Lloyd, "if mothah said I couldn't go that
settles it."
"She didn't tell you, did she?" asked Eugenia.
"No, but if she told you, it is just the same."
"But she didn't tell me," persisted Eugenia, grown desperate to carry
out her own wishes, and not stopping at the truth. "I'll tell you how it
was."
Putting an arm around Lloyd, she drew her aside. "It is all Elizabeth's
imagination," she protested, in a low tone. "I never saw such a little
silly for making mountains out of mole-hills. She is such a fraid-cat
that she wouldn't look behind her if a fly buzzed. Now you know, Lloyd,
that, as particular as I am, I wouldn't think of going anywhere that
wasn't proper, any more than your mother would. I'll take the
responsibility. I'm sure I am old enough, and it's all right for us to
go when three big boys are with us."
The others could not hear what passed between the two. Eugenia coaxed
and wheedled and sneered by turns, and finally Lloyd yielded, and they
all started in. All but Betty. She waited in the lane alone, riding up
and down, up and down, for ages it seemed to her, waiting for them to
come back.
In reality it was not quite an hour that she kept her solitary vigil in
the lane. As she rode back and forth she could catch glimpses of
Eugenia's pink dress inside the tent, where they were all gathered
around the old fortune-teller. Now and then she heard voices and
laughter, and it gave her such a lonely, left-out feeling that she could
scarcely keep back the tears. She knew that the others thought she was
fussy and overparticular, and that helped to make her thoroughly
uncomfortable.
The fretful wail of a sick baby sounded at intervals from the tent. The
banjo-playing had stopped on their arrival. It was nearly noon when the
six children came straggling out of the tent.
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything!" said Eugenia, triumphantly.
"Betty was a goose not to go, wasn't she? Why, Betty, she told me my
whole past, and even described the three girls I go with at school. I am
to have a long life and lots of money, and to be married twice. And she
told me to beware of a fleshy, dark person with black eyes, who is
jealous of me and will try to do me harm."
"What did she tell you, Joyce?" asked Betty, eagerly, feeling that she
had missed the great opportunity of her life for lifting the veil that
hid her future.
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