Edith Layton by Gypsy Lover Page A

him go!” the voice cried imperiously. “What can you be thinking? I leave for a moment, simply to nap, and you abduct him? Where were you taking him? Why? Is this not England? Where’s the law? I shall have the law down upon you, you villains!”
    Daffyd felt himself lowered to the ground. A moment later, he was released, and then covered by the soft weight of a slight female form, as a woman flung herself on top of him. Gentle hands cradled his head. He looked up to see Miss Margaret Shaw. But she ignored him. She glowered up at the men who stood in a ring around them.
    “I demand to know the reason for this!” she shouted.
    “Well, see, we thought he…” one of them muttered.
    “See, ma’am, your man,” another ventured to say, “he was asking after a girl, and see, we got one gone and went missing all day…”
    “We was looking in the fields and hedgerows,” the first man said, “and we seen a gypsy camp, or what was one…”
    “And he looks like a gypsy…beggin’ your pardon, ma’am,” another man said quickly, “I mean, what with his skin and hair and all.”
    “A gypsy !” she shrieked, “Wherever have you seen a gypsy with such eyes? Blue as bonny English bluebells, like his mama’s,” she said, her voice momentarily softening. “His grandfather was consul in Spain, which is where he met his grandmother—Oh! I have no time for such nonsense.” She rose to her knees. “Where is the law? I’ll have you clapped in irons, the lot of you! And don’t dare even think of laying a hand on me, my buckos,” she announced, as she rose to her feet. She shook a finger at them, “My parents know our direction, and be sure—if we go missing His Majesty will hear of it! To think,” she marveled, “we attempt to travel as any ordinary young couple might, and it comes to this.”
    Daffyd lay on his back, getting his wind back, stunned, disbelieving, and bizarrely enough, vastly entertained by his rescuer’s dramatic abilities.
    “Well?” she demanded, her hands on her hips. “Are none of you going to help him to his feet? Oh, it will go badly for you if you have hurt any part of him,” she said angrily.
    The men scrambled to help Daffyd up. One dusted off his jacket, another awkwardly patted his shoulder. One somehow produced his hat, which had been left at the inn.
    “Are you all right, my dear?” Meg asked Daffyd with such solicitousness he almost believed every word she’d said was true.
    “I am well enough,” he said with hard-won calm.“Thank you, my dear.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips.
    She colored, and looked away. He hoped it was dark enough, because no man would believe a well-loved female could blush at such a trifle. But from the corner of his eyes he saw that these louts were impressed by her shyness and his gesture. Only a highborn fellow would salute a woman who’d just saved his life in such a trifling way. Only a lady would be so moved by it, too.
    “I think, however,” he said, mastering understatement, “that we should not rest here this night.”
    The innkeeper had come hurrying out of the inn to join the growing crowd and see what the fuss was all about. Now he pushed through the throng. “Oh, sir. Lady,” he said, bowing low. “Please, stay on. Let me make it up to you. Didn’t know you two were together, sir, seeing as how you arrived separate. I’d have given you a better room. I will!” he added, on inspiration. “Free, too. Can’t have folk thinking we’re savages here. The Magpie ’s got a reputation for comfort. Quality used to stop here all the time. Please, let us show you we still got the touch. And don’t be feared of being disturbed! These knot heads come within an inch of you again, and I’ll shoot them myself, I will!”
    The serving girl had pressed forward too. But she was staring at Daffyd and frowning. “But what about your fiancée?” she asked him. “I mean, you said you was looking for your fiancée: a blond who