Boarding school students -- Fiction; College students -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Love stories
She flitted away. Two minutes later we saw her, looking like a neat
little yacht going for a walk with a Dreadnought, carefully convoying
Lady Adela across the course into the enclosure.
"What about Miss Beverley and the others, Freak?" I asked, as we turned
away.
"Oh, they are all right," said Dicky shortly. "Leave them alone for a
bit longer."
From which I gathered that Miss Beverley was still suffering from what
is known in nursery circles as "a little black dog on her back."
A large section of the crowd evidently shared our opinion that the next
race would be a tame affair, for the merry-go-rounds and other
appurtenances of the meeting were enjoying abundant patronage as we
approached. We passed slowly along the fairway, where hoarse persons
implored us, _inter alia_, to be photographed, win cocoanuts, and
indulge in three rounds under Queensberry Rules with "The Houndsditch
Terror."
Dicky, suddenly throwing off his low spirits, won two cocoanuts;
insisted upon being photographed with me upon the beach of a
_papier-mâché_ ocean, and, although he drew the line at The Houndsditch
Terror, submitted his palm to an unclean and voluble old lady who
desired to tell his fortune.
He was cautioned by the beldame against a fair man with a black
heart--"That’s you, old son!" he remarked affectionately to me--and
received warning of impending trouble with a dark lady. ("Thanks; I
know all about that," he assured her feelingly.) On the other hand, he
was promised two letters, a journey across the ocean, and a quantity of
gold--precise amount not specified--within a short period of time.
"You have a very peculiar nature," was the next announcement. "You have
paid attention to many ladies, but you have never really loved any of
them. Your heart--"
"I beg your pardon; I have loved them all!" replied The Freak
emphatically.
"Don’t be angry with Gipsy, pretty gentleman!" pleaded the aged Sibyl.
"Gipsy knows best. Gipsy only says what she reads in the hand. So--but
what is this?" She bent closer. "Ah! Very soon, sir, you will meet the
lady of your dreams, and you will love her as you have never loved
before."
"No, really?" exclaimed Dicky, deeply interested. "Tell me, shall I
marry her?"
"Many difficulties and obstacles will be placed in your path," chanted
the prophetess. "You will be misunderstood; you will have to deal with
peculiar people. Many times you will be tempted to give up in despair.
But persevere, and you will triumph in the end. Now, gentleman, cross
Gipsy’s palm with silver--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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