Part 44 (1/2)
”If it is, I wish to know it. I will pay you according to the fortune you reveal, so proceed.”
”In the first place you would like to know where your wife is, and I can find her in a hurry, and the man she lives with will some day make her weep. You don't know even why she married you, but I can tell you all about that and the mystery you are working on, too.”
Scott had laughed at the idea of fortune-telling, but he was quite sure that this old gypsy possessed the knowledge of some facts he wished to know.
”Did you tell me anything more when you were here?” Scott asked.
”I did tell you something you did not like to hear: that there was the stain of blood on your hands.”
”Anything more?”
”Yes, I see you lying asleep, with a long knife above your head in the hand of a man. If you will let me I will help you.”
Scott did not for a moment entertain the idea that Meg was wise from any supernatural power. He believed she knew something of his private affairs, and that she had a secret to sell. He had no idea what the secret was, or how she had gained possession of it, but what she had told him, together with some other facts that he possessed, strongly convinced him that she was interested in his affairs in some way. But while Meg thought that Scott's sole object was to find his wife, his ideas lay entirely in another direction.
”I can tell you something that you would like to know, a great secret, but you will have to pay me well.”
”Do you know where my wife is?”
”No, but I can find her.”
”Is this the secret you wish me to pay a big price for?”
”Oh, no, it is something that would make you wish you had never been born, if you knew it.”
”Well, here is your money,” said Scott, dropping three silver dollars in her hand. ”Leave me your address, and when I want your a.s.sistance I will call on you.”
”Yes,” said Scott, as he was left again to himself, ”I am sure she is the same, and she pretends to know all about Irene, and she thinks, no doubt, I will pay her a fabulous price for imparting the knowledge to me, but she is mistaken. It would do me no good to know. Poor, foolish girl,” he said, as he stood with folded arms, gazing out upon the street. ”How easily she was flattered. G.o.d knows I pity her for her vanity. I wish she might have looked ahead, and seen the misery in store for her. She will soon be left alone again, for that villain will go in search of another weak-minded victim.”
At that moment a carriage, drawn by a pair of unruly horses, dashed down the street. An infirm old woman, who was at that moment crossing, screamed in affright. A score of hands went up to stay the fractious animals, and in a measure checked their speed, but there was but one who had the courage to do more, and the old woman would have been trampled to death had it not been for the aid of a woman who, springing quickly forward, caught the bridle and held it firmly until stronger hands came to her rescue. Scott, seeing the danger, lost no time in going to offer a.s.sistance.
”Are you hurt?” the lady asked of the old woman, who stood trembling in every limb.
”No, but I'm so scared I can't hardly stand,” she said.
”Are you unharmed?” Scott asked, addressing the young lady, who he noticed was plainly dressed, but had a very handsome face, surrounded by cl.u.s.tering curls of auburn hair.
”I am not hurt in the least,” she said, pulling her veil further over her face, and, turning around, she walked briskly away, though not until Scott had time to notice the graceful carriage of the full and well-developed form.
”Do you know that lady?” asked a gentleman bystander.
”I do not,” Scott replied, as he gave the reins into the hands of the driver of the spirited animals.
”That is Miss Elsworth, the auth.o.r.ess.”
”Is it possible?”
”Yes, you have, no doubt, read some of her works.”