When Dick reached the house, he found Madge waiting for him.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
"I walked down the road as far as my property. Did you know there were
gypsies camped on it?"
"Why, no; are there?"
"Yes. They have two tents, a hut, a wagon, and a sort of rough barn for
their horses."
"They have no right to camp there. They are trespassing."
"Oh, well, they won't harm the property, and they'll go away in the
spring."
"How do you know? Were you speaking to them?"
"I talked with one of the men, and with the woman who heads the tribe.
Her name is Miriam, and she told my fortune."
"Really?" cried the girl, with a smile. "What did she tell you?"
"Many things that I know to be true, and some things that I hope will
turn out true."
"Then your fortune was a good one?"
"On the whole, it was. You'd better call on her and have your fortune
told."
"Perhaps I will, if aunty will go with me. Come, now, tell me what she
told you."
Dick repeated as near as he could remember all that the gypsy woman
had read in his hand, with the exception of that part referring to his
sweetheart.
"I suppose she said you'd marry the girl of your choice and live
happily ever afterward," laughed Madge slyly.
"Sure; they always put that in to make you feel good."
"So she said you were going to come into a fortune soon? Isn't that
nice?"
"It's too nice to be true."
"It might happen."
"I haven't a rich relative in the world whose death would put me on
Easy street."
"Then you'll get the money some other way."
"I don't know of any other way unless I robbed a bank, and I'm not
likely to do that."
"You might find a pocketbook full of money."
"If I did I'd return it to the owner if I could locate him."
"Well, let us hope you will get the money somehow. Most people wouldn't
worry how money came to them as long as they got it."
Dick agreed with her, and then they began talking about other things.
On Monday morning eleven o'clock a small, stylishly dressed lady, of a
blonde complexion, came into the store and asked for Mr. Bacon. She was
shown into his office, where she introduced herself as Mrs. Patterson.
She said she had been recommended to Mr. Bacon's store by the Rev. John
Dobbs, pastor of a certain church. The church in question was the one
that the merchant was connected with, and the pastor was a warm friend
of his. She said that the Rev. Dobbs had given her a note to hand to
Mr. Bacon, but she had lost or mislaid it, for it was not in her bag.
The merchant asked her what he could do for her, and she said she had
called to look at his stock of silver cups and a few other articles in
the silver line. Mr. Bacon said he would be very glad to give her every
opportunity to make a selection from among his latest samples, and he
assigned Dick to wait on her, as the boy was very successful in dealing
with the lady customers of the house.
So Dick took her up to the sample room and let her see what was on
exhibition in the lines she wanted. The boy had engaging ways that
always took with the ladies, so he never had any difficulty in handling
them to their own satisfaction and that of his employer. Mr. Bacon
had given him a quiet tip that Mrs. Patterson was a special customer
who had been recommended to him, so Dick laid himself out to please
her. He appeared to have no trouble in doing so, for in a short time
she made quite a number of purchases of the finest and most expensive
articles, and giving her address to Dick said that she wanted the ware
delivered C. O. D. at her residence that afternoon at six o'clock. Her
husband would be home at that hour and would pay the bill in cash. She
then left the store, after picking out an expensive diamond pin to be
sent with the other goods. Dick turned the order and the directions in
to his boss, who O. K.'d it and handed it over to his manager, through
whom it proceeded to the packer, who got the articles from Dick, and
the ring from the diamond salesman. About closing time Mr. Bacon called
Dick into his office.
"I wish you'd take that package up to Mrs. Patterson's house, if it is
not too heavy for you," the merchant said. "It is on your way home, and
as the bill amounts to $700, I'd rather you would collect it than a
messenger."
"All right, sir," answered Dick, who was always willing to oblige his
employer.
He got the package, which weighed about twenty pounds, and left the
store with it at a quarter-past five, when the porter closed up. The
address Mrs. Patterson had given was on the West Side, in a district
wholly occupied by fine private houses, except in a few instances,
where there were handsome apartment houses on the corners. Dick took
the elevated at Cortlandt street station and at ten minutes of six got
out at the nearest station on Columbus avenue to the block he was bound
for. It still wanted a minute or two of six when he mounted the high
stoop of the handsome house which bore Mrs. Patterson's number. He rang
the bell, and after the lapse of five minutes, during which interval
he was, without his knowledge, inspected through the inside blinds on
the parlor floor, a tall man, in good clothes, with a dark complexion,
opened the door and asked him what he wanted.
"Does Mrs. Henry Patterson live here?" he asked.
"She does," replied the man. "Are you from Mr. Bacon's store on John
street?"
"I am."
"Walk in."
Dick entered and the heavy vestibule door was closed behind him.
"You have brought the bill for the goods with you?" said the man, in
smooth tones, as he led the way inside the inner door.
"I have."
"Very well. I am Mr. Patterson. As soon as my wife has examined the
articles and checked them off I will pay you the money for them."
The interior of the house, so far as Dick could judge from the looks of
the hall, was in keeping with its external indications.
"Follow me upstairs to the sitting room," said Mr. Patterson.
Dick was introduced into the front room on the second floor which was
handsomely furnished. The gentleman took the package and the itemized
bill and pointed to a chair. Then he left the room. Ten minutes
elapsed, during which Dick heard not a sound. The house was as silent
as the grave. Then the door opened and Mr. Patterson reappeared.
"The articles are all right and my wife has O. K.'d the bill," he
said. "Step this way and I will pay you."
Dick got up and followed him into the back room on the same floor. A
chair was drawn up at the marble center table, and the boy was invited
to be seated. Mr. Patterson went to a closet behind the boy and
presently returned with a bunch of money, which he laid, with the bill,
in front of him.
"Count it, please, and see that the sum is correct," said the gentleman.
Dick proceeded to do so. Mr. Patterson went back to the closet.
In a moment or two he approached the boy so softly that Dick did
not hear his steps. Even if he had he would have paid no attention
to the gentleman's movements. Every one, it is said, is endowed
with an instinctive sense that seems to be awakened by the unseen
or unsuspected presence of another person in the room with us,
particularly when that person is standing close behind. We cannot go
into an explanation here of the phenomenon, but that it frequently
comes to pass is an undoubted fact.
Certain it is Dick experienced it at that moment while he was counting
the bunch of bills which seemed to be all five-dollar ones, and without
any intention on his part he mechanically raised his eyes and looked
straight ahead. They rested on the surface of a mirror hanging against
the wall facing him. In the fraction of time at his disposal he was
startled to see the form of Mr. Patterson towering about him, his arm
uplifted in the act of bringing a slungshot down upon his head. The
weapon was actually descending when Dick caught sight of it, and he
dodged his head aside. The round iron ball swept his ear like a shot
and landed just beyond his collar-bone, the man's hand striking his
shoulder with considerable force. Dick slid off the chair on his hands
and knees, and though much shaken up, was on his feet in a moment, for
he was as active as a cat. There was a terrible look in the man's eyes
as they confronted each other, then he sprang at Dick with a hissing
imprecation.