"No nonsense, young lad," she said, while the children dared not laugh. She bent over his palm for a moment, then she solemnly said:
"You're a brave lad, and you need to be for you will fall in love with a girl who'll have red hair, and the temper that usually goes with it."
"Don't worry, young man," said the old gypsy, "because it will be some months before you marry."
"Indeed," said Uncle Harry, "and what shall I do if the girl proves to have the temper you prophesy? Shall I try to calm her by holding her under a pump, or would you advise tying her until she feels less fiery?"
"Young man, this is no laughing matter," was the sharp reply.
"Guess it isn't!" said Uncle Harry. "I've seldom been so discouraged. Here am I, a man who has a lovely wife and baby girl, and yet I've got to marry a red-haired girl, with a temper like chain lightning! Who was ever in a worse fix?"
The old gypsy flew into a rage. "You're poking fun at me!" she cried.
"There! There! The fun was worth that!" he cried, laying a handful of small coins on the table before her.
In her eagerness to count the money, she forgot her wrath, and they hastened from the tent, where, safely outside, they were free to laugh as much as they chose.
As they re-entered the large tent, they saw that near the centre, a space had been cleared, and there was a crowd of people waiting, as if expecting some attraction to be exhibited.
They had not long to wait, for almost immediately the Scotch piper appeared, and tightly clasping her precious new doll in her arms was wee Lois, dressed in Highland costume.
Placing her doll on a table, and making sure that it was safe, she ran forward, courtesied first to Uncle Harry, as she had promised, and then, to the music of the pipes, the wee lassie did the "Highland Fling."
She was such a round, dimpled little girl, one would never have dreamed that she could dance with such infantile grace.
And when she had finished, with another courtesy, they crowded around her, and it was Nancy who most generously praised her. Dear little Nancy, who danced like a fairy, never had a jealous thought in her loving heart!
It was Uncle Harry who caught little Lois, and lifted her so that he could look into her eyes.