The weather was certainly cold, but it was gloriously fine for the present, and one beauty of the tour lay in the fact that there was no need to hurry, and no rehearsal at midday for exhibition at nightfall. The midday halt for luncheon was made by the roadside, deep down in a pine-shaded glade, and near to a clear stream that ran seawards over a bed of yellow sand. They were lucky enough, moreover, to secure at night a pitch for the caravans in a delightfully quiet and level little meadow, and no sooner had they been drawn in than Mary proceeded to cook dinner. This was done partly on the large oil-range in the pantry of the 'Gipsy Queen,' and partly outside on a fire built in the real gipsy style on the sward. Lotty had disappeared, and Antony was wondering where she was, when she came tripping along with her lap full of beautiful flowers and foliage. 'Why, Lotty, wherever did you get these at this time of the year?' 'I only mentioned to the hotel master,' said the girl, 'that I loved flowers, and that you, Mr Blake, did. That was all; and he went straight away to his glass-house and gathered me all these.' 'Oh, won't we be gay?' said Antony. 'Yes; and now I shall go and arrange them.' What a quiet and pleasant evening was spent after dinner, eaten with an appetite that only sailor-folks and gipsies ever know anything about! The small caravan was drawn up so close to the big one that, although Mary would not have presumed to come and sit in the 'Gipsy Queen,' she could hear the music very well; for Antony was a good pianist--'good at nothing else earthly,' he used to tell his friends--and piano and violin go well together. There had been cows and a horse or two in the field when they first drove in, but the kindly landlord took them all away lest they might annoy the wanderers during the night. Wallace seemed very happy and contented; but though he kept in the big caravan all day he told Antony that it was his duty to be with his mistress by night; but if any attack should be made by evil tramps, he, Antony, had only to shout, and the tramps would be sorry they had come. The camp cat had insisted on becoming the caravan cat, and a splendid fellow he was; and it may as well be stated here that never, during all this romantic tour, did pussy absent himself of a morning, although he might have been out all night long. On such occasions, just as the horses were about to start, and although there may have been no appearance of him before that, out of somewhere he would come rushing with his fuzzy tail in the air, and take his seat on the _coupé_. 'Sorry if I've kept you waiting,' he would seem to say, 'but I've been spending the evening with some friends, and time does pass so quickly on such occasions.' But puss made up for his want of rest by night by sleeping on the sofa all the forenoon. Happy cat, no responsibility and never a care!