“And you find me here,” interrupted Pine with a faint smile.  “Well you see, being a gypsy, I can’t always endure that under-the-roof life you Gentiles live.  I must have a spell of the open road occasionally.  And, moreover, as my doctor tells me that I have phthisis, and that I should live as much as possible in the open air, I kill two birds with one stone, as the saying is.  My health benefits by my taking up the old Romany wandering, and I gratify my nostalgia for the tent and the wild.  You understand, you und—­” His speech was interrupted by a fresh fit of coughing.

“It doesn’t seem to do you much good this gypsying,” said Miss Greeby with a swift look, for his life was of importance to her plans.  “You look pretty rocky I can tell you, Pine.  And if you die your wife will be free to—­” The man sat up and took away from his mouth a handkerchief spotted with blood.  His eyes glittered, and he showed his white teeth.  “My wife will be free to what?” he demanded viciously, and the same devil that had lurked in Mother Cockleshell’s eye, now showed conspicuously in his.

Miss Greeby had no pity on his manifest distress and visible wrath, but answered obliquely:  “You know that she was almost engaged to her cousin before you married her,” she hinted pointedly.

“Yes, I know, d——­ him,” said Pine with a groan, and rolled over to clutch at the grass in a vicious manner.  “But he’s not at The Manor now?”

“No.”

“Agnes doesn’t speak of him?”

“No.”

Pine drew a deep breath and rose slowly to his feet, with a satisfied nod.

“I’m glad of that.  She’s a good woman is Agnes, and would never encourage him in any way.  She knows what is due to me.  I trust her.”

“Do you?  When your secretary is also stopping at The Manor?”

“Silver!” Pine laughed awkwardly, and kicked at a tuft of moss.  “Well I did ask him to keep an eye on her, although there is really no occasion.  Silver owes me a great deal, since I took him out of the gutter.  If Lambert worried my wife, Silver would let me know, and then—­”

“And then?” asked Miss Greeby hastily.

The man clenched his fists and his face grew stormy, as his blood untamed by civilization surged redly to the surface.  “I’d twist his neck, I’d smash his skull, I’d—­I’d—­I’d—­oh, don’t ask me what I’d do.”

“I should keep my temper if I were you,” Miss Greeby warned him, and alarmed by the tempest she had provoked.  She had no wish for the man she loved to come into contact with this savage, veneered by civilization.  Yet Lambert was in the neighborhood, and almost within a stone’s throw of the husband who was so jealous of him.  “Keep your temper,” repeated Miss Greeby.

“Is there anything else you would like me to do?” raged Pine fiercely.

“Yes.  Leave this place if you wish to keep the secret of your birth from your wife.  Lady Garvington and Mrs. Belgrove, and a lot of people from The Manor, are coming to the camp to get their fortunes told.  You are sure to be spotted.”