Lambert had painted a very true picture of the girl, although to a certain extent he had idealized her reckless beauty.  Chaldea’s looks had been damaged and roughened by wind and rain, by long tramps, and by glaring sunshine.  Yet she was superlatively handsome with her warm and swarthy skin, under which the scarlet blood circled freely.  To an oval face, a slightly hooked nose and two vermilion lips, rather full, she added the glossy black eyes of the true Romany, peaked at the corners.  Her jetty hair descended smoothly from under a red handkerchief down to her shoulders, and there, at the tips, became tangled and curling.  Her figure was magnificent, and she swayed and swung from the hips with an easy grace, which reminded the onlookers of a panther’s lithe movements.  And there was a good deal of the dangerous beast-of-prey beauty about Chaldea, which was enhanced by her picturesque dress.  This was ragged and patched with all kinds of colored cloths subdued to mellow tints by wear and weather.  Also she jingled with coins and beads and barbaric trinkets of all kinds.  Her hands were perfectly formed, and so doubtless were her feet, although these last were hidden by heavy laced-up boots.  On the whole, she was an extremely picturesque figure, quite comforting to the artistic eye amidst the drab sameness of latterday civilization.

“All the same, I suspect she is a sleeping volcano,” whispered Miss Greeby in her companion’s ear as they followed the girl through the camp.

“Scarcely sleeping,” answered Lambert in the same tone.  “She explodes on the slightest provocation, and not without damaging results.”

“Well, you ought to know.  But if you play with volcanic fire you’ll burn more than your clever fingers.”

“Pooh!  The girl is only a model.”

“Ha!  Not much of the lay figure about her, anyway.”

Lambert, according to his custom, shrugged his shoulders and did not seek to explain further.  If Miss Greeby chose to turn her fancies into facts, she was at liberty to do so.  Besides, her attention was luckily attracted by the vivid life of the vagrants which hummed and bustled everywhere.  The tribe was a comparatively large one, and—­as Miss Greeby learned later—­consisted of Lees, Loves, Bucklands, Hernes, and others, all mixed up together in one gypsy stew.  The assemblage embraced many clans, and not only were there pure gypsies, but even many diddikai, or half-bloods, to be seen.  Perhaps the gradually diminishing Romany clans found it better to band together for mutual benefit than to remain isolated units.  But the camp certainly contained many elements, and these, acting co-operatively, formed a large and somewhat reckless community, which justified Garvington’s alarm.  A raid in the night by one or two, or three, or more of these lean, wiry, dangerous-looking outcasts was not to be despised.  But it must be admitted that, in a general way, law and order prevailed in the encampment.