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Matrimonial Openings - Sailor's Knots, Part 5. by W. W. Jacobs
page 4 of 17 (23%)
host into the kitchen and gazed tenderly at Miss Dowson--"best joke I
ever had in my life; I've 'ad my fortune told--guess what it was! I've
been laughing to myself ever since."

"Who told it?" inquired Mrs. Dowson, after a somewhat awkward silence.

"Old gypsy woman in Peter Street," replied Mr. Foss. "I gave 'er a wrong
name and address, just in case she might ha' heard about me, and she did
make a mess of it; upon my word she did."

"Wot did she say?" inquired Mr. Dowson.

Mr. Foss laughed. "Said I was a wrong 'un," he said, cheerfully, "and
would bring my mother's gray hairs to the grave with sorrow. I'm to 'ave
bad companions and take to drink; I'm to steal money to gamble with, and
after all that I'm to 'ave five years for bigamy. I told her I was
disappointed I wasn't to be hung, and she said it would be a
disappointment to a lot of other people too. Laugh! I thought I should
'ave killed myself."

"I don't see nothing to laugh at," said Mrs. Dowson, coldly.

"I shouldn't tell anybody else, Charlie," said her husband. "Keep it a
secret, my boy."

"But you--you don't believe it?" stammered the crestfallen Mr. Foss.

Mrs. Dowson cast a stealthy glance at her daughter. "Its wonderful 'ow
some o' those fortune-tellers can see into the future," she said, shaking
her head.
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