On more than one occasion she had tried to persuade her grandmother to tell her fortune, hoping to learn in this way whether she would ever see him again, but her grandmother had always refused.
'No, that is not for you,' she had replied. 'All I can tell you is that you will one day live in a house again. This wandering life is not for you always. And if you are courageous you will gain what you most desire. Life is there for you to make of it what you will, my dear.'
* * * *
That was all she would say, but as the time passed, she began to contrive opportunities for Yasmin to be with Leon. At first the girl did not realise what she was about, but then she understood from an overheard comment by one of the other girls that her grandmother was hoping the two grandchildren she loved so dearly would become attached to each other. That embarrassed Yasmin, and she did her utmost to avoid Leon, for though she liked him well enough, she knew she did not love him. He did not seem to have noticed anything odd in her behaviour, and continued to treat her in the kindly, brotherly manner he had always employed towards her. So it was with complete surprise that she heard him, one day just before Christmas, asking her to marry him.
They had been walking along the shore searching for driftwood for the fire when he proposed. Yasmin had been thinking, as she so often did, of the stranger at the fair. She had come to accept that, incredible as it seemed after so short and so strange a meeting, she had fallen in love with him at first sight. It was when she had found herself clenching her fists at the thought of Ned and Charlotte together that she had admitted to herself she loved him, and was jealous of the other girl. She realised at once the hopelessness of such love, but this did not lessen the pain of not seeing him, and the longing simply to see his face once again. When Yasmin understood what Leon was saying, and he had to repeat it for she had not been attending to him, she drew back in dismay at the very thought. There is no man for me but Ned, her heart cried out, and then she felt the full bleakness of life without any hope.
Leon, kindly as always, misunderstood.
'I have been too sudden, Yasmin. I should have waited, but I thought you knew how I felt for you.'
'I like you, truly I do, Leon,' she said unhappily. 'I have not thought of marriage!'
'No, of course, and you are yet young. But grandmother has considered it and she approves.'
'You have discussed this with her?' she asked quickly.
'Of course. She hopes for it, and I wished to be able to satisfy her soon. She has not long to live, my dear.'
'Oh, no!' Yasmin was shocked out of her gloomy thoughts about herself. 'But she seems strong. She is agile and never needs help, like so many old people.'
'She may seem like that to you, Yasmin, but you did not know her before. The last year has brought about great changes in her. She is old and feeble now. Your coming has been a great mercy, for I think it strengthened her hold on life a while longer, but it cannot last. She tells me she does not expect to make the journey eastwards in the spring, and she wants to see you safe before then.'
'Safe?' Yasmin caught at the word, so strange, but Leon would not elaborate.
'Talk with her,' was all he would say.
But Yasmin began to glimpse what they both feared that very night, for Pedro returned.
* * * *
He was a large man, taller and broader even than Leon, and he had a swaggering manner that matched well with his flamboyant clothing and jaunty moustache. The other girls crowded about him when he rode into the camp, and he leapt from his horse and kissed them all in turn, laughing and joking with them and bidding them still their clamour, for he had the presents he had promised in his pack. Then he saw Yasmin, and was silent for a moment, his wicked-looking arched eyebrows raised. But it was not in Pedro to be silent for long.
'Well, what have we here?' he roared, and advanced towards her. Yasmin retreated a few steps until she was standing hard against the wheel of her grandmother's van.
Leon stepped protectively forward. 'Yasmin is my cousin, Michael's daughter,' he said quietly, and Pedro paused, then sneered.
'And so you have been advancing yourself in my absence,' he commented.
At that moment Mrs Boswell appeared in the van doorway.
'Good evening, Pedro, I see you have come to pay me your respects?' she asked softly, and ludicrously all the bombast fell from him.
'How are you? In better health than when I left, I trust?' he replied meekly, and she inclined her head regally. Yasmin had come to admire her grandmother immensely, but never more than at that moment when she subdued the bully with a mere glance.
'Thank you, yes, but I am tired now, it is late. You may tell me your news in the morning. Yasmin, come and help me, child.'
Thankfully Yasmin mounted into the van, feeling unaccountably safe within it. She looked back to see Pedro turn away, crestfallen, but soon she heard his loud voice and the laughter of the others. Mrs Boswell looked worried.
'He is a man to be wary of,' she said at last. 'I want the leadership of the tribe to go to Leon, but Pedro will not like it, he will try to obtain it for himself. Watch him, child. I do not trust him. Do not go out of sight of the camp by yourself.'
Yasmin promised readily enough, for the look in Pedro's eyes had terrified her, although she could not say quite why she felt so afraid. Her grandmother began to talk of Leon and his good qualities, and Yasmin listened, agreeing with all she said, and yet uncomfortably aware she could never satisfy her by loving him, good man though he was, and fond of him though she had become.
Life became more difficult for Yasmin in the next few weeks, as Pedro was for ever seeking to corner her alone. Most of the time she contrived to avoid him, but she could not for ever expect to keep away from him. She took good care, however, never to go out of sight of the camp. Whenever he could he lavished fulsome compliments on her, ignoring the presence of others. Some of the girls began to look askance at Yasmin, and she knew that because they were jealous of the attentions he was paying her, they could not understand she had no desire for them.
She learned Pedro had been to France, and showed her surprise.
'But how is that?' she asked. 'For a year and a half now the French ports have been blockaded by our fleet. They mean to hold Bonaparte prisoner so that he cannot carry out his intention of invading England.'
Pedro laughed. 'Not all the ports are stopped,' he replied. 'If you know whom to approach, and where to go, there are ways of evading even the magnificent English Navy.'
Yasmin did not like his contemptuous tone, but said no more, for she knew he would enjoy engaging her in an argument. Pedro waited for a moment, and when she remained silent, began to boast of all the people he had seen, important Romanies mostly, but he also claimed to have spoken with the newly proclaimed Emperor.
'He is a small man, but with a compelling eye. He will go far.'
'For the son of an insignificant foreign notary, he has already come an immense distance in a short time,' Leon said, amused.
'Even further than Emperor?' one of Pedro's adoring girls asked. 'How much further can he go? What else is left?'
'He is as yet only Emperor of the French. There is the rest of the world to conquer.' Pedro pointed out.
Yasmin shivered, for she had long been hearing tales about the Corsican ogre and the threat of his army poised just across the Channel. In the strange events of the past few months she had almost forgotten these, and even before then the success the fleet had had in bottling up the French ships had made the English relax their fears, and think the invasion would never take place. Leon, sitting beside Yasmin, noticed the shiver and gently put his arm around her shoulder to draw her close to him. She nestled against him, grateful for the comfort his touch and his presence always gave her, although she could not love him as he wished. Pedro glared towards them once, then turned away and paid ostentatious attentions to Rosina, a pert, small girl he seemed to favour above the others, and she smirked in triumph at Yasmin later when they were all drifting off to their own vans to sleep.
* * * *
A few days later Yasmin and Leon took two of the horses and rode the few miles into the nearest town, for there were some essential purchases to be made, and Yasmin wished to buy herself some material to begin making herself some gowns to wear when she would dance with the others at the fairs.
Leon left her at the shop while he went off to do some other shopping, and she selected two lengths of taffeta, one in a vivid shade of blue, and the other of soft gold that matched her hair. She bought braids to sew on them, and then her eye was caught by a lovely cream shawl. She still had some money left, and added the shawl to her other purchases, then, with the parcel under her arm, left the shop to go and wait for Leon in the market square.
She was approaching the main inn when she saw Pedro walking along in front of her. Halting, she looked about her for a place to conceal herself, not wishing him to see her while she was alone. She stepped behind a substantial tree, and peeped round the trunk to see where Pedro went. He had halted outside the inn, and as she watched, a man rode out of the yard and stopped beside Pedro.
She was too far away to distinguish his features, but it was obvious from his clothes he was a gentleman. What could Pedro want with such a man, she wondered, as the man dismounted and he and Pedro paced slowly up and down before the inn. It was clearly no casual encounter, for they remained in talk for a good five minutes, and Yasmin thought she saw Pedro pass the man a small package which he tucked into one of the pockets of his riding coat. She was too far distant to be certain, however, and remained in her hiding place until the man, with a nod towards Pedro, mounted and rode off away from Yasmin. Pedro looked after him for a moment, and then turned and entered the inn. Thoughtfully Yasmin waited until she saw Leon crossing the square towards her, and she sped to meet him and warn him Pedro was nearby.
She told him what she had seen, but he could not explain the encounter.
'Pedro has many acquaintances outside the tribe,' he shrugged. 'He is a law unto himself in many ways. I would not put it past him to be involved in some transaction with the quality that he wishes to keep to himself. Best not mention you saw him.'
Yasmin agreed, and in any event forgot all about it on the following day, for Mrs Boswell became ill, and she knew she was dying, though Yasmin would not accept it, and kept trying, as she thought, to comfort her with reassurances she would soon be better. She sent Yasmin for Leon, and when they came back together bade them both sit beside her bed.
'My dearest grandchildren,' she began, her voice so weak they had to bend close to hear her words. 'You know what it is I hope for you both. I had wished to see you settled before I died, for I wanted to keep Yasmin safe from Pedro. He is not a good man, Yasmin. Do not be led astray by either his boasting or his promises. He would not make you a good husband. Take Leon, child. I know he wants you, and it is my dearest wish you should wed him. With him you will be safe. Beware Pedro, and the other that seems so charming. He is evil beneath his pleasant ways.'
Yasmin glanced at Leon through the tears that filled her eyes, scarcely heeding these last words, though she often puzzled over them later, thinking somehow her grandmother knew about Ned and meant to warn her about him. Leon was holding his grandmother's hands gently.
'I will guard Yasmin, and do my best to follow your wishes,' he said softly, and Mrs Boswell smiled proudly at him, and held out her hand to Yasmin.
The girl was by now weeping, and incapable of speech. This was perhaps fortunate, or in the stress of the moment she might have been impelled to make promises she would later have no wish to fulfil. Yasmin was still positive she would never marry Leon, although she had come close to loving him in the past few weeks.
Mrs Boswell seemed content, and she asked to be moved, as was the custom, outside her van to await the end. When this had been done she smiled at them both, closed her eyes, and seemed to sleep. They sat beside her for some time, but the end was not long delayed, and for the second time Yasmin endured the parting with a dearly loved one.
Leon led Yasmin away to his mother when it was all over, and she did her best to comfort the bereft girl, arranging for her to move into her own van. Then the preparations for the pomona, or funeral feasting, were started.
Although Yasmin had known her grandmother for so short a time, she had grown to love her deeply. It was not merely that they had belonged together by blood, in a way Yasmin had not previously known, though that was part of it. Young as she was the girl recognised the old woman's quality, difficult to describe, but definite, that made all who came into contact with her, even slightly, deeply respect her.
This was demonstrated by the vast numbers of gypsies who arrived at the encampment for the pomona. Yasmin never knew how the word was spread, but she learned some of them had come from considerable distances, starting almost as soon as Mrs Boswell had been dead. The feasting went on for several days and was ended only when the magnificent van that had been Mrs Boswell's home for many years, and Yasmin's for a scant few months, was set alight. They watched as it burned fiercely, a funeral pyre visible for miles around, the culmination of the festivities that demonstrated the great honour her tribe, and all the distant members of her family, had paid to the remarkable old woman who had been Yasmin's grandmother.
Chapter 3
Immediately after Yasmin's grandmother's possessions had been burnt, the tribe set off eastwards. Within a very few days the girl noticed a change towards her. Leon was as kind as ever and so were his parents, but the others began to eye her strangely, and whispered together, stopping when Yasmin came towards them. At first she tried to ignore it, thinking it was something to do with Pedro who still at times attempted to force his attentions on her, but Rosina in the end made her realise what it was they were concerned about.