"He may be," Captain Ripon said, "though that black eye you have got does not speak in his favor But that has nothing to do with it. Matters must take their course." The woman changed her tone. "I have asked you fairly, sir; and it will be better for you if you don't prosecute Reuben." "Oh, nonsense, my good woman! Don't let me have any threats, or it will be worse for you." "I tell you," the woman exclaimed, fiercely, "it will be the worse for you, if you appear against my Reuben." "There, go out," Captain Ripon said, opening the front door of the hall. "As if I cared for your ridiculous threats! Your husband will get what he deserves--five years, if I am not mistaken." "You will repent this," the gypsy said, as she passed out. Captain Ripon closed the door after her, without a word. "Well, who was it?" his wife inquired, when he returned to the drawing room. "An insolent gypsy woman, wife of the man who stole the fowls. She had the impudence to threaten me, if I appeared against him." "Oh, Robert!" the young wife exclaimed, apprehensively, "what could she do? Perhaps you had better not appear." "Nonsense, my dear!" her husband laughed. "Not appear, because an impudent gypsy woman has threatened me? A nice magistrate I should be! Why, half the fellows who are committed swear that they will pay off the magistrate, some day; but nothing ever comes of it. Here, we have been married six months, and you are wanting me to neglect my duty; especially when it is your pet fowls which have been stolen. "Why, at the worst, my dear," he went on, seeing that his wife still looked pale, "they could burn down a tick or two, on a windy night in winter and, to satisfy you, I will have an extra sharp lookout kept in that direction, and have a watchdog chained up near them. "Come, my love, it is not worth giving a second thought about; and I shall not tell you about my work on the bench, if you are going to take matters to heart like this." The winter came and went, and the ricks were untouched, and Captain Ripon forgot all about the gypsy's threats. At the assizes a previous conviction was proved against her husband, and he got five years penal servitude and, after the trial was over, the matter passed out of the minds of both husband and wife. They had, indeed, other matters to think about for, soon after Christmas, a baby boy was born, and monopolized the greater portion of his mother's thoughts. When, in due time, he was taken out for walks, the old women of the village--perhaps with an eye to presents from the Park--were unanimous in declaring that he was the finest boy ever seen, and the image both of his father and mother.