ody remarked the circumstance.

There followed a hurried enquiry among the mistresses as to the
whereabouts of the fire, and the discovery that no fire existed. Miss
Poppleton hastily gave the order to return, and the boarders trooped
back shivering to the dormitories, not a little disconcerted to have
been disturbed for nothing on a chilly night in November. The Principal
made every enquiry next day as to the source of the alarm, but she could
discover nothing. Dilys Fenton was able to assure her that when she had
switched on the light in No. 3 Dormitory Gipsy Latimer had been asleep,
and she had been obliged to shake her violently to awaken her, so it was
quite impossible that Gipsy could be responsible for the practical joke.
The occurrence made a great excitement among the boarders. For days
they talked of scarcely anything else.

"It was over too soon, and they didn't use the chute after all," said
Gipsy disconsolately.

"Gipsy! you never--you couldn't-- Oh, surely----!"

But Gipsy's brown eyes looked such absolute mirrors of innocence that
even Hetty's suspicions were laid to rest.

CHAPTER VIII

Daisy Forgets

THOUGH Gipsy was accustomed to try to enjoy herself in any place where
circumstances chanced to fling her, and though she had contrived to
settle down fairly happily at Briarcroft, she nevertheless thought often
of her father, far away on the opposite side of the Equator. He must
long ago have arrived at the Cape, and it was high time that she
received news from him, telling her of his whereabouts. Every morning
she looked out anxiously for the post, but day after day brought the
same disappointment. She was the only boarder who had no letters, and
she often felt her isolated position keenly when she saw her schoolmates
tearing open their welcome budgets. It would be nice, she thought, to
have a mother and brothers and sisters to write to her, and a home to go
to in the holidays. In her roving life she could not remember a real
home; a log hut for a few weeks in a mining camp had been the nearest
approach to it.

"But I've Dad, and he's better than a whole family; and it's fun to go
about the world with him, though I do live mostly at hotels when I'm not
at school," she said to herself. "I'm not going to worry my head. Dad
will send me a letter as soon as he possibly can, I know. He's not in
the least likely to forget me."

So she tried to comfort herself, but every day she looked out wis