CHAPTER XIX 245
CHAPTER XIX
The library looked tranquil enough as I entered it , and the Sibyl -- if Sibyl she were -- was seated snugly enough in an easy-chair at the chimney-corner . She had on a red cloak and a black bonnet : or rather , a broad-brimmed gipsy hat , tied down with a striped handkerchief under her chin . An extinguished candle stood on the table ; she was bending over the fire , and seemed reading in a little black book , like a prayer-book , by the light of the blaze : she muttered the words to herself , as most old women do , while she read ; she did not desist immediately on my entrance : it appeared she wished to finish a paragraph .
I stood on the rug and warmed my hands , which were rather cold with sitting at a distance from the drawing-room fire . I felt now as composed as ever I did in my life : there was nothing indeed in the gipsy ' s appearance to trouble one ' s calm . She shut her book and slowly looked up ; her hat-brim partially shaded her face , yet I could see , as she raised it , that it was a strange one . It looked all brown and black : elf-locks bristled out from beneath a white band which passed under her chin , and came half over her cheeks , or rather jaws : her eye confronted me at once , with a bold and direct gaze .
" Well , and you want your fortune told ?" she said , in a voice as decided as her glance , as harsh as her features .
" I don ' t care about it , mother ; you may please yourself : but I ought to warn you , I have no faith ."
" It ' s like your impudence to say so : I expected it of you ; I heard it in your step as you crossed the threshold ."
" Did you ? You ' ve a quick ear ." " I have ; and a quick eye and a quick brain ." " You need them all in your trade ."