criminal folly. That Lady Agnes should have traded herself to save
Garvington from a well-deserved punishment, seemed inexcusable to the
gypsy. If he had been the man she loved, then indeed might she have
acted rightly. But having thrown over that very man in this silly
fashion, for the sake of what did not appear to be worth the sacrifice,
Chaldea felt that Agnes did not deserve Lambert, and she then and there
determined that the Gentile lady should never possess him.

Of course, on the face of it, there was no question of possession. The
man being weaker than the woman would have been only too glad to elope,
and thus cut the Gordian knot of the unhappy situation. But the woman,
having acted from a high sense of duty, which Chaldea could not rise to,
evidently was determined to continue to be a martyr. The question was,
could she keep up that pose in the face of the undeniable fact that she
loved her cousin? The listening girl thought not. Sooner or later the
artificial barrier would be broken through by the held-back flood of
passion, and then Lady Agnes would run away from the man who had bought
her. And quite right, too, thought Chaldea, although she had no notion
of permitting such an elopement to take place. That Agnes would hold to
her bargain all her life, because Hubert had fulfilled his part, never
occurred to the girl. She was not civilized enough to understand this
problem of a highly refined nature.

Since the situation was so difficult, Lambert was glad to see the back
of his cousin. He escorted her to the door, but did not attend her
through the wood. In fact, they parted rather abruptly, which was wise.
All had been said that could be said, and Lambert had given his promise
to share the burden with Agnes by acting the part of a lover who had
never really been serious. But it did not do to discuss details, as
these were too painful, so the woman hurried away without a backward