felt roof. It was too
narrow to be used, as was hoped, for games; unless, indeed, we had turned
it into a skittle-alley. But then skittles is a game of low connections.
Finally, well-wishers were solemn in their warnings that the drainage of
the spot was defective (which, indeed, was no otherwise than true, till
we brought about a reform), and that our settlement by the sea was
nothing if it was not healthy.

The outlook then was not unclouded. But one bright day we had before we
said good-bye to the past, and fronted the future cares. Sir Pryse had
invited the school to spend a day with him at Gogerddan, Thursday, July
20th, the last day of term. Room was found for all his guests to dine
together in a large barn near the house, where, from the high and narrow
windows, the light fell in picturesque mellowness on the close-packed
ranks. A match was played in the grounds between the school and an
Aberystwith eleven; the rest whiled away the afternoon right pleasantly
among the flowers and grass-slopes. At a pause in the game there was a
gathering on the lawn to watch the execution of a little surprise which
the cricketers had prepared for our host. From a box which had been
perilously smuggled in, was produced a memorial gift (it consisted of a
study-clock and inkstand), which "the cricketers of Uppingham begged Sir
Pryse to accept, as a slight acknowledgment of his special liberality to
themselves;" for so it was set forth in an address which the captain of
the eleven proceeded to read to him. Our host, as much startled as if
the present and the address had been shot at him out of a cannon,
answered in a brief but not the less effective speech. Then, as if to
relieve the warmth of feeling generated between us, a piano was run into
the bow of an open window, and the choir outside delivered themselves of
some hearty music. Soon the evening train was carrying us home for the
reading of the class-list and the prize-giving. In the customary
address, the Headmaster could congratulate the school on having borne
themselves well during the great time in the school's history which this
day brought to a close: he called on them to "come back with the soldier
spirit" to face whatever remained.

There was dark work going on in the street that night. When dawn broke,
it disclosed an array of flags, streamers, and devices, along the
approach to the station, where "the special" was waiting. Prominent
among the devices wa