Son of a rogue and a gypsy, Hero Fiennes Tiffin was a notorious rake until a shattering betrayal left him alone and embittered in the Welsh countryside. Desperation drives quiet schoolteacher Josephine Langford to ask Hero Fiennes Tiffin to help sav...
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Though Josephine was within sixty miles of her home, travelling with the Gypsies was like visiting a foreign country. Many of their customs were British, and all spoke at least some English and Welsh as well as Romany. Yet in other ways, they were totally alien. As Hero's wife, she was able to see them as few Gorgios ever did, for they accepted her with charming casualness as if she were a kitten that had wandered in. Though she could not approve of some of their attitudes, neither could she resist their warmth and immense vitality.
Seeing the Rom gave her a better understanding of Hero. Their ability to live in the moment, as if there were no past or future; their cheerful fatalism; the graceful freedom of their movements—all of those traits were part of her husband's heritage from the Rom.
Yet though he blended in easily and was very popular, gradually she realized that he was not truly a member of the group; there were parts of his mind and spirit that had grown beyond the narrow world of the Rom. She wondered if he would have been happier if he had never left the Gypsies. Perhaps someday she would ask him, but not now. When they reached Westgate, Michael would have to be dealt with, and she felt the grief of that inside Hero.
On their final night, the promised feast was held, with lavish amounts of food and drink and laughter. The centerpiece was a suckling pig stuffed with apples and roasted over the open fire. As Josephine finished her portion, daintily nibbling the roast meat from a bone in her hands, she remarked, "I hope this piglet was honestly come by, but I'm afraid to ask."
Hero grinned. This evening he had buried his concerns and was enjoying himself with Gypsy gusto. "It's legitimate. By luck, I happened to have a guinea in my breeches when we escaped. I gave it to Kore as my contribution to our expenses. I saw him pay for this little porker myself."
Ani approached the log where they sat. "Since this is a feast in honor of your marriage, we will have a little ritual, yes? Not the abduction, nor the lament, but a little something to symbolize your union."
Josephine said doubtfully, "I don't know your customs."
"This will be simple," Ani said briskly. "You will have no trouble. I will ask Milosh to take up his fiddle now. Later, Hero, you will play the harp for us."
As Ani bustled away, Josephine said, bemused, "Lament?"
"Usually the bride sings a song to her mother, bewailing the fact that she has been sold into marriage and wishing she were dead," Hero explained.
Josephine stared at him. "Not very festive."
"It's considered very moving. That and the ritual abduction paint an interesting picture of Romany history."
She licked the last traces of grease from her fingers. "Where did the Rom come from originally?"
He took a swig of wine from a jug before answering, drinking Gypsy style, with the container slung over his shoulder and his finger linked through a loop on the jug's neck. The effect was very dashing. "Since Gypsies have no written language, no one really knows. An Oxford linguist who has studied the language told me that his guess was that the Rom began their wanderings in Asia. Northern India, perhaps."
