picturesque effect. A few parties of
visitors, who were looking over the castle, stopped to watch the
performance, and appeared greatly to enjoy it. To Miss Poppleton and the
teachers the various items were of course well known, as they had been
often rendered at school; but thus combined, in such suitable
surroundings, they made quite a pretty pageant. Gipsy was in her
element, marshalling, conducting, directing, and acting leader, while
all the time taking her own part in the singing and dancing. As the
members ranged themselves at the end, and wound up the programme with
"God Save the King", she felt a thrill of delighted gratification. The
Guild, which had begun under her auspices, and which she had so
carefully fostered, seemed a well-established institution of the Lower
School, likely to continue and flourish among the Juniors for many years
to come. If she had done nothing else during her three terms at
Briarcroft, it was a satisfaction to feel that she had accomplished this
much. Perhaps some such thought struck her companions.

"Hip, hip, hip, hooray for the Guild!" shouted Hetty Hancock. "And hip,
hip, hip, hooray for the Festival! And hip, hip, hip, hooray, girls, for
our secretary, Gipsy Latimer! She arranged it all, and she deserves a
hearty vote of thanks."

As the vigorous cheers rang out, Gipsy stood with flushed cheeks and
shining eyes. It was sweet to have her schoolgirl triumph, and to feel
that her efforts on behalf of her fellow Juniors had met with so much
appreciation.

When the applause died away and the girls broke up, a stranger, who from
behind a portion of the ruins had been an eager witness of the
proceedings, stepped up to Miss Poppleton.

"I should like to add my congratulations," he remarked. "Perhaps you
don't remember me? If I may have one word with the little secretary of
your Guild, she will tell you who I am."

But at that moment Gipsy caught sight of him, and with one wild cry of
"Father!" flung herself into his arms.

How Mr. Latimer had arrived upon the scene at such an extremely
opportune moment demands a word of explanation, so we will narrate his
story as he told it to Gipsy afterwards. In the previous November, after
landing at Cape Town, he had joined a pioneering expedition, and gone
far into the interior to prospect for minerals. The little party had
experienced many hardships, perils, and privations, but had been very
successful in its discoveries, finding a rich ve