saying.
âGreat power awaits you,â she continued haltingly. âOver body and soul, life and death. It is your destiny to bring about ââ
âJanetta! Howd thi tongue, lass!â
Philip and I turned swiftly and the girl slumped forward, her forehead resting on the crystal ball. Just inside the tent stood a small elderly woman in a black and red shawl. She was staring as though hypnotized at Philip and myself, both of us now on our feet.
âYou will please go, gentlemen,â she ordered, her voice shaking. âThe girl sees nowt. She was deceiving you.â
âShe was doing very well,â I protested, since the girl was clearly incapable of defending herself.
âPlease go!â The woman swooped forward, snatched up the pound coin still lying on the table and pushed it into my hand.
âBut look, surely she deserves ââ
âShe donât want your money.â She glanced briefly down at the motionless figure. âI must see to her.â
We had no option but to leave. I followed Philip out of the tent and by unspoken consent we shouldered our way past the throngs to the practically deserted lakeside.
âI wonder what upset the old woman,â I said at last. âFortune-tellingâs always a con but they donât usually admit it.â
âPerhaps this time it was the truth.â Philip stared out across the water. âWhat did you make of it, all that power-not-given-to-many?â
âA load of rubbish!â But it had intrigued me, too. The classroom in Swindon held out no such promise.
Philip bent, selected a pebble and hurled it into the darkness of the lake, waiting for the distant splash as it fell. âShall we accept the challenge â take over the village? You can see to their minds and Iâll look after their bodies! Far more scope here, I imagine, than in that grotty surgery in High Wycombe!â
A joking reply was called for but I was unable to supply it. There was an undisciplined excitement about him which disturbed me, especially since I could feel the undertow of it myself.
âWell, well, if it isnât you two again!â The girls weâd seen earlier had loomed up out of the shadows.
âDid you follow us?â Philip demanded ringingly.
âYou flatter yourselves!â
âDid you?â
âNo, we â well, we just caught sight of you some way ahead, and ââ
âHave you heard what happens to girls who follow men?â
She stared at him, trying to see his expression in the twilight, and giggled uncertainly.
âThey might,â said Philip deliberately, âget more than they bargain for. Such as this!â And putting his arm round her, he pulled her against him and kissed her thoroughly.
âAnd this!â I added, following suit with the other girl. And at the feel of her soft yielding body I knew this was exactly what we needed to dispel the strangeness. Thoughts that had nothing to do with the supernatural surged into my head and I welcomed them wholeheartedly, letting mental excitement give way to physical. Pulling the willing girl behind some bushes, it was swiftly gratified. And it was about this unlooked-for but easy conquest that Philip and I joked as we prepared for bed that night. We made no further reference to the fortune-teller.
But we were not to be allowed to forget the gypsies.
A couple of mornings later as we walked above the village, a tall dark man came hurtling out of a clearing just in front of us, cannoning straight into me and knocking me off balance. He caught at my arm to prevent my falling.
âBeg pardon Iâm sure, sir, but Iâm that bothered to get to doctor, I ââ
âSomethingâs wrong?â Philip interrupted. âIâm a doctor.â
The man registered him for the first time, and as his eyes went from Philipâs face to mine, his hand shot out towards us, the forefinger and pinky
Donald Luskin, Andrew Greta