by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER VI THE GYPSY WITCH CARDS
So that evening Danby Force consented to have his fortune told. Being apractical young man who thought in terms of dollars and cents, andseldom found time for dreaming, he was not likely to take the matterseriously. Why did he consent? Perhaps it was because he liked PetiteJeanne and wished to please her. And then again there may have been inhis nature, as there is in many another practical person's, a feelingfor the mysterious, the thing that cannot be entirely explained. And whocan say that this race of wanderers, these gypsies, may not have hiddenaway in their breasts some secrets unknown to others? Surely, as we haveseen, they could make a cape of royal purple such as is known among noother people. Whatever the reason, Danby Force consented to have hisfortune told.
That night the great lounge of the hunting lodge presented to Jeanne asetting both weird and wonderful. She loved it. Flames in the greatfireplace sent shadows chasing one another from beam to beam of theceiling. Two candles, one at each end of the long table, casting eachits yellow gleam, brought out the handsome smiling face of Danby Force,but left Madame Bihari in all but complete darkness. From the mantelabove the fire came the slow tick-tock of a clock. Once, from without,the girl thought she caught the challenging cry of some wild thing,perhaps a wolf.
"There," said Madame Bihari, looking up at Danby Force, "are the cards.You shall shuffle them, my young friend. You shall cut them with yourleft hand. Then you shall place them on the table in positions I shalltell you of." Madame Bihari talked at this moment just as Jeanne hadalways imagined a wooden man might talk, each word spoken in the samelow, slow tone.
"There are the cards," Jeanne thought to herself. Yes, there they were.How many times she had watched Madame Bihari tell fortunes from thosecards! As she closed her eyes she could see some rich and dignifieddame, at the steps of a castle in France, spread out those same cards,then sit intent, motionless, expectant as Madame Bihari told herfortune.
"And how cleverly she tells them!" Jeanne whispered to herself. "Therewas the Chateau Buraine. Madame said, 'It will be destroyed by fire.'Two months later it was in ashes. And the gypsies did not set the fire._Mais_ no! No! They were all away at the Paris Fair."
"Now--" Madame was speaking once more to Danby. "Now you have shuffled,you have cut the cards. You shall now lay them face-up in rows, six inthe first row, then eight in a row for five rows, and last, six in arow."
Jeanne watched fascinated as the cards were turned up. She knew thosecards by heart. Each had its number. On each card was a differentpicture, a serpent, a sun, a moon, children at play, a house, a cloud, atree, a mouse, a bear; yes, yes, there were pictures and each picturehad its meaning, a good prophecy or a bad one. Health, happiness,riches, love, enemies, failure, deception, sickness, death--all theseand many more were prophesied by these pictures.
Most important of all was one card, the picture of a gentleman inevening coat and tall, starched collar. His number was 19. It was thiscard that, in the next moment or two, would stand for the young man,Danby Force. Would he be surrounded by cards telling of success, loveand happiness, or by those telling of dire misfortune? She held herbreath as Danby, his fingers trembling slightly, dealt the cards.
Did Jeanne believe in all this? Had you asked her, she would perhapshave found no reply. She had lived long with the gypsies, had PetiteJeanne. How could she escape believing? And, after all, who would wishto escape? Who is there in all the world that cares to say, "I know allabout these things. There is no truth in them?"
Anyway, here was Madame Bihari, Danby Force, Petite Jeanne. Here werethe dancing shadows. There were the cards. And there--Jeanne caught herbreath. Yes, there was the man in evening dress. There was card number19. Every card placed close to him must have a very special meaning.Leaning back into the shadows, she waited. When all the cards were down,Madame Bihari would study them. There would be a silence, three minutes,four, five minutes long, then Madame would speak.
In her eagerness to catch every word, Jeanne moved close up beside DanbyForce.
Silence followed, such a silence as makes a roar of the wind singingdown the chimney. From the mountainside there came the whisper of sprucetrees. Torn, twisted, and tangled by storms, those trees stood therelike horrible dwarfs whispering of love and life, of hatred and death.Once Jeanne, moved by who knows what impulse, went tip-toeing from herplace to press her nose against the glass and peer into that darkness.Then, as if all the gnarled trees had been shaking fists at her, shesprang back to her place close to Danby Force.
When at last Madame Bihari broke the silence, she spoke in a deepmelodious tone:
"Ah. The snake!"
"The snake!" Jeanne murmured low. She shuddered.
"But he is not too near." There was a measure of relief in Madame'stone. "And see! Between Monsieur and the snake is the Book. Ah! That isgood! The Book stands for mystery that shall be solved. And the Eye!"Her tone became animated.
"Oh! The Eye!" Jeanne was smiling now, for well she knew that the Eyebetokened great interest taken by friends.
"Friends," she whispered to Danby Force, when Madame had told of theEye, "Friends, they are everything!"
"Yes." Danby's tone was full of meaning. "Friends, loyal friends, theyare worth more than all else in this life! And, thank God, I have manyfriends!"
"And see!" Madame exclaimed. "Here is the Moon. A very good sign.
"But the fox! Ah, this is bad! This speaks of distrust. There are those,Monsieur, whom you must not trust too much--perhaps some who are veryclose to you."
"Yes, I--"
Madame did not permit the young man to finish. "The Sun!" Her facedarkened. "The Sun tells of future vexation."
"I shouldn't wonder." Danby Force laughed. "Indeed I have had quite alot of that already. But come! I shall be having the jitters from allthis evil prophecy. Let's get our little blonde-haired friend to make usa steaming cup of chocolate, and please put in just one spoonful ofmalted milk and a marshmallow." He touched Jeanne's golden locks gently.
"But one moment!" Madame protested. "Here is the pig close at hand. Hetells of great abundance."
"Perhaps that means that I am to have two cups of chocolate." Danbylaughed once more.
"But yes!" Jeanne joined him in the laugh. "Three if you say so."
"One moment more, I pray you!" Madame's tone was very earnest. "I readin these cards that there is one who calls himself your friend. He hasdark and curly hair. He smiles. He dances. He is very much alive. Butah! He is a rascal! You must beware!"
"I shall beware. Thank you," Danby said soberly.
"And now!" exclaimed Jeanne, springing to her feet, "Our cup of cheer!"
When their light repast was over, when Madame sat nodding by the firethat had burned low, Jeanne spoke to Danby Force in words of exceedingsoberness. "You must not treat too lightly Madame's forecast with thecards. Indeed you must not! She is old. She has told fortunes since shewas a child. The rich and the very great, they have listened often toher fortunes. Truly they have.
"Once--" her voice dropped to a whisper. "Once she said to a man, a verygreat man who lived in a castle on a hill: 'You shall die. In two monthsyou will be dead.' And in two months his heart stopped. He was dead,dead."
For some time after that she sat staring at the fire. When she spokeagain it was in a changed tone:
"But you, my friend, you did not have a bad fortune. Indeed not! Therewere troubles. They come to all. You will overcome them. There werethose you must not trust. You will discover that they are traitors. Inthe end you shall have honor, perhaps much money, and always I amsure--" her voice dropped, "Always you shall have many, many friends."
"Ah yes," he whispered. "Please, dear little French girl, many friends!"
After that, for a long time, with the fire gleaming brightly before themand the murmur of the wild out-of-doors coming down the chimney to them,they sat reading their own fortunes in the flames.
