It was a daring part to play, but the
young man watching realized that she had the free grace to carry
it out successfully. She danced the fandango to a finish, swept
him another low bow, and presented laughingly to him the
tambourine for his donation. Then, suddenly flinging aside the
instrument, she curtsied and caught at his hand.
"Will the senor have his fortune told?"
Bucky drew a handful of change from his pocket and selected a
gold eagle. "I suppose I must cross your palm with gold," he
said, even while his subconscious mind was running on the new
complication presented to him by this discovery.
He was very clear about one thing. He must not let her know that
he knew her for a girl. To him she must still be a boy, or their
relation would become impossible. She had trusted in her power to
keep her secret from him. On no other terms would she have come
with him; of so much he was sure, even while his mind groped for
a sufficient reason to account for an impulse that might have
impelled her. If she found out that he knew, the knowledge would
certainly drive her at once from him. For he knew that not the
least charm of the extraordinary fascination she had for him lay
in her sweet innocence of heart, a fresh innocence that consisted
with this gay Romany abandon, and even with a mental experience
of the sordid, seamy side of life as comprehensive as that of
many a woman twice her age.
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