Should a hunted fugitive rush into an Englishman's house, beseeching protection, and appealing to the master's feelings of hospitality, the Englishman would knock him down in the passage." "You are too general," said I, "in your strictures; Lord [Aberdeen], the unpopular Tory minister, was once chased through the streets of London by a mob, and, being in danger of his life, took shelter in the shop of a Whig linendraper, declaring his own unpopular name, and appealing to the linendraper's feelings of hospitality; whereupon the linendraper, utterly forgetful of all party rancour, nobly responded to the appeal, and telling his wife to conduct his lordship upstairs, jumped over the counter, with his ell in his hand, and placing himself with half a dozen of his assistants at the door of his boutique, manfully confronted the mob, telling them that he would allow himself to be torn to a thousand pieces, ere he would permit them to injure a hair of his lordship's head: what do you think of that!" "He! he! he!" tittered the man in black.
"Well," said I, "I am afraid your own practice is not very different from that which you have been just now describing: you sided with the radical in the public-house against me, as long as you thought him the most powerful, and then turned against him when you saw he was cowed.

What have you to say to that ?" "O! when one is in Rome, I mean England, one must do as they do in England; I was merely conforming to the custom of the country, he! he! but I beg your pardon here, as I did in the public-house I made a mistake." "Well," said I, "we will drop the matter; but pray seat yourself on that stone, and I will sit down on the grass near you." The man in black, after proffering two or three excuses for occupying what he supposed to be my seat, sat down upon the stone, and I squatted down gypsy fashion, just opposite to him, Belle sitting on her stool at a slight distance on my right.
After a time I addressed him thus.

"Am I to reckon this a mere visit of ceremony?
Should it prove so, it will be, I believe, the first visit of the kind ever paid me." "Will you permit me to ask," said the man in black,--"the weather is very warm," said he, interrupting himself, and taking off his hat.
I now observed that he was partly bald, his red hair having died away from the fore part of his crown; his forehead was high, his eyebrows scanty, his eyes, grey and sly, with a downward tendency, his nose was slightly aquiline, his mouth rather large--a kind of sneering smile played continually on his lips, his complexion was somewhat rubicund.
"A bad countenance," said Belle, in the language of the roads, observing that my eyes were fixed on his face.
"Does not my countenance please you, fair damsel ?" said the man in black, resuming his hat and speaking in a peculiarly gentle voice.
"How," said I, "do you understand the language of the roads ?" "As little as I do Armenian," said the man in black; "but I understand look and tone." "So do I, perhaps," retorted Belle; "and, to tell you the truth, I like your tone as little as your face." "For shame!" said I; "have you forgot what I was saying just now about the duties of hospitality?
You have not yet answered my question," said I, addressing myself to the man, "with respect to your visit." "Will you permit me to ask who you are ?" "Do you see the place where I live ?" said I.
"I do," said the man in black, looking around.
"Do you know the name of this place ?" "I was told it was Mumpers' or Gypsies' Dingle," said the man in black.
"Good," said I; "and this forge and tent, what do they look like ?" "Like the forge and tent of a wandering Zigan; I have seen the like in Italy." "Good," said I; "they belong to me." "Are you, then, a Gypsy ?" said the man in black.
"What else should I be ?" "But you seem to have been acquainted with various individuals with whom I have likewise had acquaintance; and you have even alluded to matters, and even words, which have passed between me and them." "Do you know how Gypsies live!" said I.
"By hammering old iron, I believe, and telling fortunes." "Well," said I, "there's my forge, and yonder is some iron, though not old, and by your own confession I am a soothsayer." "But how did you come by your knowledge ?" "Oh," said I, "if you want me to reveal the secrets of my trade, I have, of course, nothing further to say.

Go to the scarlet dyer, and ask him how he dyes cloth." "Why scarlet ?" said the man in black.

"Is it because Gypsies blush like scarlet ?" "Gypsies never blush," said I; "but Gypsies' cloaks are scarlet." "I should almost take you for a Gypsy," said the man in black, "but for--" "For what ?" said I.
"But for that same lesson in Armenian, and your general knowledge of languages; as for your manners and appearance I will say nothing," said the man in black, with a titter.
"And why should not a Gypsy possess a knowledge of languages ?" said I.
"Because the Gypsy race is perfectly illiterate," said the man in black; "they are possessed, it is true, of a knavish acuteness, and are particularly noted for giving subtle and evasive answers--and in your answers, I confess, you remind me of them; but that one of the race should acquire a learned language like the Armenian, and have a general knowledge of literature, is a thing che io non credo afatto." "What do you take me for ?" said I.
"Why," said the man in black, "I should consider you to be a philologist, who, for some purpose, has taken up a Gypsy life; but I confess to you that your way of answering questions is far too acute for a philologist." "And why should not a philologist be able to answer questions acutely ?" said I.
"Because the philological race is the most stupid under Heaven," said the man in black; "they are possessed, it is true, of a certain faculty for picking up words, and a memory for retaining them; but that any one of the sect should be able to give a rational answer, to say nothing of an acute one, on any subject--even though the subject were philology--is a thing of which I have no idea." "But you found me giving a lesson in Armenian to this handmaid ?" "I believe I did," said the man in black.
"And you heard me give what you are disposed to call acute answers to the questions you asked me ?" "I believe I did," said the man in black.
"And would any one but a philologist think of giving a lesson in Armenian to a handmaid in a dingle ?" "I should think not," said the man in black.
"Well, then, don't you see that it is possible for a philologist to give not only a rational, but an acute answer ?" "I really don't know," said the man in black.
"What's the matter with you ?" said I.
"Merely puzzled," said the man in black.
"Puzzled ?" "Yes." "Really puzzled ?" "Yes." "Remain so." "Well," said the man in black, rising, "puzzled or not, I will no longer trespass upon your and this young lady's retirement; only allow me, before I go, to apologise for my intrusion." "No apology is necessary," said I; "will you please to take anything before you go?
I think this young lady, at my request, will contrive to make you a cup of tea." "Tea!" said the man in black--"he! he! I don't drink tea; I don't like it,--if, indeed, you had--" and here he stopped.
"There's nothing like gin and water, is there ?" said I, "but I am sorry to say I have none." "Gin and water," said the man in black--"how do you know that I am fond of gin and water ?" "Did I not see you drinking some at the public-house ?" "You did," said the man in black, "and I remember, that when I called for some, you repeated my words.