D'Alvimar, with increasing irritation, urged his horse toward the woman, and would have ridden her down had she not quickly stepped aside; he even put his hand to the butt of one of the pistols in his holsters, as if he would readily have fired on one of those wretched beasts of idolaters. Thereupon the gypsies exchanged glances, and drew together as if to consult. "_Avanti_! _avanti_!" Guillaume shouted to D'Alvimar. He loved to use Italian words, to show that he had been to the queen-mother's court; or perhaps he fancied that an _i_ at the end of a word was sufficient to make it unintelligible to those gypsies. "Why _avanti_?" said D'Alvimar, declining to urge his horse. "Because you have irritated yonder blackbirds. See! they are crowding together like cranes in distress; and, faith! there are a score of them and only seven of us." "How now, my dear Guillaume! Can it be that you have any fear of those feeble, cowardly animals?" "I am not accustomed to fear," replied the young man, slightly piqued, "but it would be exceedingly distasteful to me to fire on the poor, ragged wretches; and I am surprised that they have roused your temper so, when it would have been a very simple matter to rid yourself of them with a little small change." "I never give to such people," said Sciarra D'Alvimar, in a short dry tone, which surprised the good-humored Guillaume. The latter felt that his companion had what we should call to-day an attack of the nerves, and he abstained from reproving him. But he insisted on quickening their pace, for the gypsies, running faster than the horses trotted, followed them, and even went before them, divided into two bands, one on each side of the road. They had not a hostile air, however, and it was difficult to guess what their purpose was in escorting the horsemen thus. They talked among themselves in an unintelligible jargon, and seemed, one and all, intent upon watching the woman at their head. The child whom Monsieur d'Alvimar had tried to strike with his whip trotted along beside Monsieur d'Ars, as if he relied upon his protection, and seemed to take great interest in this extraordinary race. Guillaume noticed that the little fellow was less black and less dirty than the others, and that his refined and attractive features bore no racial resemblance to those of the gypsies. If he had paid the same attention to the woman whom D'Alvimar had insulted and threatened, he would have noticed also that, while she did not resemble the child in the slightest degree, she resembled no more her other companions in misery. Her bearing was noble and less rough. She was clearly not of European race, although she wore the costume of a mountaineer of the Pyrenees. [Illustration: _MERCEDES ENCOUNTERS D'ALVIMAR._ _She walked boldly by his side, no longer trying to beg from him, nor with any appearance of threatening him, but watching him constantly with the closest attention._]