'
They pressed their horses' flanks, again leaped over the ditches, and
speedily vanished, amidst the whirlwinds of dust which they raised upon
the road.
The words of the phantom Gypsy were ominous. Gypsy Will was eventually
executed for a murder committed in his early youth in company with two
English labourers, one of whom confessed the fact on his death-bed. He
was the head of the clan Young, which, with the clan Smith, still haunts
two of the eastern counties.
* * * * *
'I say, Jasper, what remarkable names your people have!'
'And what pretty names, brother; there's my own for example, Jasper; then
there's Ambrose and Sylvester; then there's Culvato, which signifies
Claude; then there's Piramus--that's a nice name, brother.'
'Then there's your wife's name, Pakomovna; then there's Ursula and
Morella.'
'Then, brother, there's Ercilla.'
'Ercilla! the name of the great poet of Spain, how wonderful; then
Leviathan.'
'The name of a ship, brother; Leviathan was named after a ship, so don't
make a wonder out of her. But there's Sanpriel and Synfye.'
'Ay, and Clementina and Lavinia, Camillia and Lydia, Curlanda and
Orlanda; wherever did they get those names?'
'Where did my wife get her necklace, brother?'
'She knows best, Jasper. I hope--'
'Come, no hoping! She got it from her grandmother, who died at the age
of 103, and sleeps in Coggeshall churchyard. She got it from her mother,
who also died very old, and who could give no other account of it than
that it had been in the family time out of mind.
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