The record-union., 1897-10-30
A ROMkNY WIFE.
BY WILLIAM A. DUTT.

In the loW-ceiled living room of a
small thatch-roofed cottage standing
on the border Of a Suffolk heath a wom-
an sat alone by the side OF a wood fire,
which gave out the only light that re-
laeved the gathering gloom Of a win
ter's night. The occasional CLEANS
that lit up the walls when an unburned
branch fell amid the ruddy embers re-
vealed that the room was sparsely fur
nished with cheap new chairs and
table such as would be within the
means of purchase of a labOring man
who found regular employment in the
faTTnyard and the fields. Their new
ness was painfully obvious; it was
plain that every article in the room had
but lately shed the rough straw wrap
pings Of the dealers store. The figured
oilcloth on the table was so shiny that
it reflected the freight; the chairs had
an angularity that suggested the I'M
possibility of a person comfortably con-
forming to their rigid outlines; the un-
Lit lamp, with its gaudily painted globe
and pedestal, seemed meant for taWdry
effect rather than use. If one mlght
judge from the face and attitude OF
the woman, she was conscious OF the
incongruity which existed between
these garish objects and the smoke
stained plaster walls which contained
them, for she had turned her back upon
them and was gazing moodily into the
fire.
The incongruity Of taste displayed in
the furnishing of the room was empha-
sized by the presence there of the wom-
an herself A glance at her was suffi-
efent to compel the conclusion that she
was as out of place in that weather
worn cottage as was the newly bought
furniture, the contiguity of which she
was trying to ignore. There was some
thing in the expression of her face
when the freight fell on it that sug-
gested some captive creature looking
out through prison bars on the scene
of its vanished freedom. 1t was
swarthy face and a hard one, but the
dark eyes, with pupils scarcely con-
tracted by the dim light, were restless
and revealed a faculty for fierce pleas
ure and pain that nothing else about
her betrayed. A mass Of dark hair was
gathered closely about her head, with
out a hint of any attempt at adorn-
ment, and her dress was that of farm
hands wife who might at times find
work in the fields. But neither her at
tire nor the fashion in which her hair
was done could hide the fact that the
woman was of Romany blood unmixed
with any alien strain.
1t had been a stormy day. and all
through the daylight hours the sky had
been obscured by a murky cloud-wrack.
which came up from the westward and
swept swiftly over the brown heath
and out over the gray sea. Sitting
silent and alone the woman could still
hear the wind wailing through the rag
ged fir ridge that bordered the heath;
at times, when q violent gust seemed to
lfft the loose roof thatch, its sudden
shock upon the cottage walls drowned
the distant roaring of the waves. Now
and again some dried leaves from under
the garden fence We're blown against
the window panes, but the woman did
not turn her head, and such startling
sounds were soon unheard amid the
loud beating Of a rain squaI.
The CRIES won't stray far from the
camp tonight" she muttered to her
self, as the wind ratified the window
frame, and an air eddy, which found
some Of the sand that was sprinkled on
the floor.
She was thinking of the life she had
abandoned, Of the time when, with the
Romany of her tribe, she had encamped
on the heath under the shade of the
very frs which We're now spreading
their dusky boughs seaward toward the
storm. Some Of the Gypsies were
Io
them had come to see her; they looked
upon her as an outcast, unworthy of
intercourse with their tribe. Only Reu-
ben Lee-"Watcher Lee" as the keep
ers called him-had had a word to saw
to her. Her mother had refused to omen
the door Of her van when she knocked
for admission-she had seen her close
1t as she crossed the heath-and when
she had looked back as she turned away.
her sister Alvira had laughed mocking-
y at her from the steps of her husbands s
van. Almost blind with rage and morti-
f1cation, she had stumbled against Reu-
ben near the cottage gate. and he had
asked what allied her. Was she not
happy with house-dwelling husband? :?
Didn't the gorgio" treat her well? Was
she tired of living the respectable life
of a plowdriver's wife? Did she wish
herself back among the rascally. row
ing. crew who cheated servant girls out
Of their wages and swindled farmers
into buying worthless ''gries?" Reuben
had been in Yorkshire when she ran
away from the camp and married the
slow witted farmers man, who was
smitten with her dark eyes and saucy
looks; but her people had evidently told
him all about her, for did he not fling
back her very words in her teeth? But
then he had seen how his words hurt
her for he had changed his tone and
spoken to her softly. begging her to
leave the life for which she could have
little liking, and take up again the old
free. rowing ways.
A defiant mood had come over her as
she listened to his bitter words, but it
had been hard to resist him when he
spoke tenderly and gave utterance to
thoughts that had often of late come to