A Little Gipsy Lass by Gordon Stables

Neither children nor dogs think much about the future, and it would be wise sometimes if their elders resembled them in this respect, for surely even Lotty's honest and faithful friend Wallace was to be envied in being so perfectly happy and contented, and in believing -- if he could be said to possess a belief -- that the world for him would have no end, that his little mistress would always be with him, and that it would always be sunshine and spring.

But young folks like Lotty, who have come through the hard, do often wonder to themselves what will become of them in after years. And this gipsy lass had been so happy ever since Frank Antony had arrived in camp that the very thought of his going away and being to her as if he had never come to cheer her and make the days seem all too short, was one which loomed before her like a big dark cloud which ere long must engulf her, and from which her sun of life might never emerge. No wonder, then, that as she thought of this she shed bitter tears that morning on the moor. And what could Antony do but just try to comfort her as best he could? For there was sorrow and sadness even at his own heart. And the birds sang on, and the perfume of spring was all around them; only poor Wallace seemed much concerned and whined pitifully as he licked poor Lotty's hands and ears.