end foremost, and there he
certainly would have drowned if Gypsy had not seen him just when she
did.

But he was not drowned; on the contrary, except for the mud, "as good as
new;" and what might have been a tragedy, and a very sad one, had
become, as Gypsy said, "too funny for anything." Winnie, however,
"didn't see it," and began to cry lustily to go home.

"It's fortunate you were just going," said Gypsy. "I'll just fill my
pail, and then I'll come along and very likely overtake you."

Probably Joy didn't fancy this arrangement any too well, but she
remembered that it was her own plan to take the child; therefore she
said nothing, and she and Winnie started off forlornly enough.

About five o'clock Gypsy walked slowly up the yard with her pail full of
nuts, her hat in her hand, and a gay wreath of maple-leaves on her head.
With her bright cheeks and twinkling eyes, and the broad leaves casting
their gorgeous shadows of crimson and gold upon her forehead, she made a
pretty picture--almost too pretty to scold.

Tom met her at the door. Tom was very proud of Gypsy, and you could see
in his eyes just then what he thought of her.

"What a little----" he began, all ready for a frolic, and stopped, and
grew suddenly grave.

"Where are Joy and Winnie?"

"Haven't they come?"

"No."

CHAPTER V

GYPSY MAKES A DISCOVERY

Gypsy turned very pale.

"Where are they?" persisted Tom. And just then her mother came out from
the parlor.

"Why, Gypsy, where are the children?"

"I'm afraid Joy didn't know the way," said Gypsy, slowly.

"Did you let her come home alone?"

"Yes'm. She was tired of the chestnuts, and Winnie fell into the ditch.
Oh, mother!"

Mrs. Breynton did not say one word. She began to put on her things very
fast, and Tom hurried up to the store for his father. They hunted
everywhere, through the fields and in the village; they inquired of
every shop-keeper and every passer, but no one had seen a girl in black,
with a little boy. There were plenty of girls, and an abundance of
little boys to be found at a great variety of places, but most of the
girls wore green-checked dresses, and the boys were in ragged jackets.
Gypsy retraced every step of the way carefully from the roadside to the
chestnut-trees. Mr. Jonathan Jones, delighted that he had actually
caught somebody on his plowed land, came running down with a terrible
scolding on his lips. But when he saw Gypsy's utterly wretched face an