The Crowned Skull | Page 5

who was hanging on the arm of the still
sulky-looking Mr. Penrith. The baronet seemed to be younger than ever
as he basked in the smiles of the adventuress. 'For she is that,' insisted
Dericka to herself, 'and wants to marry papa for his position.' It never
occurred to the girl, who, after all, was young in experience, that the
adventuress might seek money also, and that she was not likely to find
in the pockets of Sir Hannibal Trevick.
Dericka saw the three disappear down the short avenue, at the foot of
which, presumably, waited the dog-cart of Penrith, wherein he
proposed to drive Miss Stretton over the moorland to his mother's place.
She then walked about amongst the visitors, exchanging a few words,
and making herself agreeable. Chance brought her in front of the Tent
of Mystery, and from it there issued Bowring, looking somewhat white,
followed by the governess.
'You don't believe me?' asked Miss Warry severely--that is, as severely

as her mildness would permit.
'No,' said Bowring harshly, 'you talk nonsense.'
'Yet you seem to be upset,' said Dericka suddenly, and looking at him
in a curious, puzzled way.
Bowring wiped the perspiration from his high, bald forehead.
'I have had a turn,' he said gruffly, 'but from nothing that woman told
me.'
The governess had again retired into the tent, and Dericka, thinking that
the fortune-telling was at an end, was about to conduct the millionaire
to the refreshment stall, when Miss Warry again appeared, holding an
envelope in her hand. 'Mr. Bowring,' she called, and some people
turned at the sound of the name.
'What is it?' he asked gruffly.
'In this envelope I have written a prophecy which I read in your hand. It
will be fulfilled before to-morrow. The envelope is sealed, and if what I
have written here occurs, then the truth of my art will be made
manifest.'
Bowring took the sealed envelope and thrust it into his pocket. 'I shall
look at it to-morrow night.'
'It may be too late!' said the sibyl solemnly, and vanished into the tent.
Chapter II
The Prophecy Fulfilled
'What does she mean by that?' asked Bowring sharply, when the
governess had disappeared to foretell the futures of fresh dupes.
'I do not know,' said Dericka. Then she pointed to the pocket into which
the millionaire had slipped the sealed letter. 'You can learn, if you read

what is written.'
Bowring took the letter out and twisted it in his gnarled, lean hands in a
thoughtful manner. 'No,' he said abruptly, and after some meditation. 'If
it is good, it can wait; if evil, I must meet it blindly, as it is best that the
future should be hidden from our eyes.'
'Yet you went in there to inquire?'
'Because I wanted to give my guinea to the chapel. I give nothing for
nothing. In that way I made my money. It is all rubbish, this fortune
telling,' he added, looking keenly at Dericka. 'Has Miss Warry ever told
your fortune?'
'Yes. By the cards and by the hand, and by looking into the crystal.'
'And you believe what she said?'
Dericka blushed, and looked away in the distance to where Oswald
Forde appeared, sauntering idly in search of her, with a cigarette.
'I should like to believe,' she said softly.
Bowring's eyes followed her, and he also saw the handsome young
fellow. The sight appeared to annoy him, and he frowned.
'You are foolish, girl,' he said roughly. 'We make our own fortunes,
good or bad, and it needs no palmistry to tell that as we sow, so shall
we reap.'
Dericka, her eyes still fastened on her lover, who paused to talk with a
pretty girl, defended what Miss Warry called 'her art'. In a musing voice
she replied. 'To some natures,' she said, 'the veil between the seen and
the unseen is very thin. Such natures may have a premonition which
turns out true, or they may read by the present the doubtful future. I
have known several of Sophia's prophecies come true in the end.'
'Sophia?'

'Miss Warry. She is my governess, and has been for many a long day,
but shortly she is leaving us, as the success of her fortune-telling has
made her desirous to earn money in that way.'
'If she sets up in London,' said Bowring grimly, 'she will be haled
before the magistrates as a swindler, and quite right too. The woman's a
fool.'
'She is a very good, kind woman, Mr. Bowring.'
'Well,'--the millionaire shrugged his large shoulders--'she certainly has
a strong advocate in you, Miss Trevick. Where is your father?'
'Somewhere about,' said Dericka, looking round. 'Do you wish to see
him again?'
'Not at once; though I would like to see him before five o'clock,