“’Tis here—­her name—­’tis—­C-o-n-s—­”

“Constance, by God! but there thy lisping tongue prattles ill, for she loves me as a brother, and I love her as if she were my sister.”  Now the gipsy drew back as if the man before her had stricken her, then hastened to cover her emotion with a sudden look into the cup and an exclamation of—­

“Ah! ah!”

“What seest thou?” said Cedric.

“A thing that means more to thee than aught else; ’tis an awful thing if thou shouldst choose wrong!”

“Haste, wench, what is it?” Cedric was growing impatient.

“Thy kinswoman will bring thee a fine heir—­”

“By God, the other will bring me a dozen then!”

“Nay, ’tis not so, she—­” She stepped close to his ear and whispered.

“Thousand devils, thou infernal, lying pot-house brawler—­” and Cedric glared fiercely upon her and bent forward, his hand falling upon his sword-hilt; then he grew red at his hot action, and looked about to see if ’twas noticed.  “Get thee gone, thou saucy, lisping minx.”  The poor thing was well-nigh distraught with fear of this man whose anger came like a thunderbolt, and she fell heavy upon the lackey who conducted her forth.  She slipped through the corridors like a fast fleeting shadow, and Janet followed her close and saw her enter a certain chamber apart where she was met by one of the dancers; and ’twas Lady Constance that threw from her the gipsy attire and put a bag of gold in the celebrated Babbet’s waiting fingers; and with a warning pressure of finger-on-lip, she came forth and fled to her own grand apartments, and Janet watched until the latch clicked upon this great mistress of beauty, title, wealth and virtue.

CHAPTER VI

JANET’S PHILOSOPHY

“This world of ours hangs midway ’twixt zenith and nadir:  the superior and inferior:  the positive and negative; and ’tis a pertinent thought that susceptible human nature takes on the characteristic of the one or the other.  One is away up in zenithdom or away down in nadirdom, one is not content to go along the halfway place and see the good that lies ever before them.  But, again, there are natures that are not susceptible to extremes; as a simile:  a maid whose soul is ever vibrant with the ineffable joys of the world to come, walks by the seashore and mayhap beholds the full moon rise from the water and cast to her very feet a pathway of gold, and she will quickly join herself to those who see like visions, and pathway will lie against pathway and produce a sea of gold; on the other hand, if she be a foolish virgin and looks not before her, but tosses high head in pride or walks with downcast eyes and smiles and blushes and smirks and flings aside thoughts of deity, until she becomes submerged; on a sudden Gabriel will blow and the world will cease revolving, and then—­where wilt thou be, oh, maid that hath fluttered from sweet to sweet and forgotten thy prayers?” There came a great happy sigh from the testered bed—­