“Ishmael!” she said, and ran toward the camp, followed leisurely by Kara.

Anxious to see the great Romany, whose arrival caused all this commotion, Miss Greeby plunged into the crowd of excited vagrants.  These surrounded a black horse, on which sat a slim, dark-faced man of the true Romany breed.  Miss Greeby stared at him and blinked her eyes, as though she could not believe what they beheld, while the man waved his hand and responded to the many greetings in gypsy language.  His eyes finally met her own as she stood on the outskirts of the crowd, and he started.  Then she knew.  “Sir Hubert Pine,” said Miss Greeby, still staring.  “Sir Hubert Pine!”

CHAPTER IV.

Secrets.

The scouting crowd apparently did not catch the name, so busy were one and all in welcoming the newcomer.  But the man on the horse saw Miss Greeby’s startled look, and noticed that her lips were moving.  In a moment he threw himself off the animal and elbowed his way roughly through the throng.

“Sir Hubert,” began Miss Greeby, only to be cut short hastily.

“Don’t give me away,” interrupted Pine, who here was known as Ishmael Hearne.  “Wait till I settle things, and then we can converse privately.”

“All right,” answered the lady, nodding, and gripped her bludgeon crosswise behind her back with two hands.  She was so surprised at the sight of the millionaire in the wood, that she could scarcely speak.

Satisfied that she grasped the situation, Pine turned to his friends and spoke at length in fluent Romany.  He informed them that he had some business to transact with the Gentile lady who had come to the camp for that purpose, and would leave them for half an hour.  The man evidently was such a favorite that black looks were cast on Miss Greeby for depriving the Romany of his society.  But Pine paid no attention to these signs of discontent.  He finished his speech, and then pushed his way again toward the lady who, awkwardly for him, was acquainted with his true position as a millionaire.  In a hurried whisper he asked Miss Greeby to follow him, and led the way into the heart of the wood.  Apparently he knew it very well, and knew also where to seek solitude for the private conversation he desired, for he skirted the central glade where Lambert’s cottage was placed, and finally guided his companion to a secluded dell, far removed from the camp of his brethren.  Here he sat down on a mossy stone, and stared with piercing black eyes at Miss Greeby.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded imperiously.

“Just the question I was about to put to you,” said Miss Greeby amiably.  She could afford to be amiable, for she felt that she was the mistress of the situation.  Pine evidently saw this, for he frowned.

“You must have guessed long ago that I was a gypsy,” he snapped restlessly.

“Indeed I didn’t, nor, I should think, did any one else.  I thought you had nigger blood in you, and I have heard people say that you came from the West Indies.  But what does it matter if you are a gypsy?  There is no disgrace in being one.”