, I say! What is it?"

What it was, Morgan disclosed in such a very low whisper to his ally
that the reader will have to guess. Suffice it to say, the two dear
lads put their heads together for some time, and were extremely busy in
the privacy of their own study all that evening.

Bilk, little dreaming of the compassion and interest he was evoking in
the hearts of his schoolfellows, retired early to his sorrowful couch,
and mourned his departed gipsies till slumber gently stepped in and
soothed his troubled mind. But returning day laid bare the old wound,
and Alexander girded himself listlessly to the duties of the hour, with
a heart far away.

He was wandering across the playground after dinner, disinclined alike
for work and play, when Dell accosted him. Bilk might have known Dell
by this time, but his memory was short and his mind preoccupied, and he
smelt no rat, as the Irish would say, in his companion's salutation.

"Hullo! where are you off to, Lamp-post? How jolly blue you look!"

"I'm only taking a walk."

"Well, you don't seem to be enjoying it, by the looks of you. I've just
been taking a trot over the common."

"I suppose the gipsies have all gone?" inquired Bilk, as unconcernedly
as he could.

"Yes, I suppose so," answered Dell, offhand. "Anyhow, they've cleared
off the common."

"But I was told," said Bilk rather nervously, "they'd gone quite away."

"Not all of them, anyhow," said Dell. "But of course they can't now
show up the way they used to."

"Where are they, then?" asked Magnus, with a new hope breaking in upon
him.

"How can I tell? All I know is there are some hanging about still, and
I shouldn't wonder if they weren't far from here."

"Really, I say! I wonder where?"

"I'd as good as bet you'd come across one or two of them after dark in
Deadman's Lane, or up at the cross roads, any evening for a week yet.
They don't clear out as fast as fellows think. But I must be off now,
as I've a lot of work to do. Ta, ta!"

Alexander stood where the other left him, in deep meditation. Those few
casual observations of his schoolfellow had kindled anew the fire that
burned within him. Little could Dell guess how interesting his news
was! After dark! The afternoon was getting on already. The school
clock had struck half-past four nearly a quarter of an hour ago, and by
five it would be quite dark. Tea was at a quarter-past five, and for
half an hour after tea boys could do