The Argosy — page 201: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

184 Mrs. Raven’s Temptation. exclaimed Mrs. Raven, as if the thought had struck her. ‘‘ Or that they will go. It is wrong to countenance such people. They are often thieves, or worse.’ ‘‘T1’d not answer for what the servants may do, madam. ‘They are but simple ones.” ‘The Squire will be annoyed if he hears of this. Especially if those foolish stories, about the figure appearing again in the Warren Walk, gain currency.” ‘‘And that they will be sure to do,” asserted Charity in a positive tone. ‘The girls will be going out to look for it now, I shouldn’t wonder.” “This gipsy woman ought to be warned that Mr. Raven will not tolerate such characters on his land. Not publicly; privately. Any publicity might do more harm than good—and cause a scandal in the place. Could you carry a message to her, Charity ?” “Td rather not, ma’am,” answered Charity, shrinking back. ‘The others would never believe but what I was consulting her for myself.” Mrs. Raven hesitated. She feared this woman. Charity Hale day at the bottom of all the surmises and terrors. But even fear makes a sort of tie. And if all that she dreaded and suspected were true, she scarcely knew whether to regard Charity as a secret ally or an open foe. ot “T think it would be best for everybody if she were to be told ‘what would befall her at the Squire’s hands, and advised to go quietly away at once,” observed Mrs. Raven. “I think I will go to her amyself: perhaps this evening. It is, in a way, my duty.” ‘T should say, ma’am, that will be best—for everybody,” answered Charity. The drawers were arranged by this time. Charity discharged a few more little duties about her mistress’s room, and then went away. Nobody saw her again till the servants’ dinner hour. Charity usually did her darnings and mendings in her own apartment, holding rather -aloof from the comings and goings and general sociability of the servants’ hall. Mrs. Raven did not leave the house all day. When her son was from home she generally took an early dinner, and went out for a stroll after afternoon tea. To-day was to be no exception to this ordinary rule. Mrs. Sims, chatting with the gardener about vege- ‘table prospects, saw the lady walk out for her evening ramble. She ‘was not a woman who stopped to speak with her servants, and a Jowering of her thin blue-veined eyelids was her sole recognition of their courtesy and salute. On she went, past her own lodge, out into the high road, between its green hedges where the leaves were already drooping. Village matrons peeped at her as she passed, and commented on the length of her widow’s veil and the paleness of her face. She passed the Vicarage, half wondering to herself whether it might not have been wise to enlist the Reverend Jasper Toynbee in her crusade for the CONMIELICO KS, (E0) ———————— i rt