’"It is a strange fancy of Sinfi’s, Miss Wynne,” said he, “and a very disconcerting one to me; but I feel that it must be yielded to.  Whatever can be done to serve or even gratify Sinfi Lovell, it is my duty and yours to do.”

’Mr. D’Arcy always spoke of Sinfi in this way.  She seems to have done something of a peculiarly noble kind for him and for me too, but what it is I have tried in vain to discover.

’And a few days after this we started for Wales.

’Oh, Henry, I wonder whether any one who is not Welsh-born can understand my delight as we passed along the railway at nightfall and I first felt upon my cheek the soft rich breath of the Welsh meadows, smelling partly of the beloved land and partly of the beloved sea.  “Yr Hen Wlad, yr Hen Gartref!” I murmured when at Prestatyn I heard the first Welsh word and saw the first white-washed Welsh cottage.  From head to foot I became a Welsh girl again.  The loveliness of Hurstcote Manor seemed a dull, grey, far-away house in a dream.  But if I had known that I should also find you, my dear!  If I had dreamed that I should find Henry!’

And then silence alone would satisfy her.  And Snowdon was speaking to us both.

XIII

And what about Sinfi Lovell?  In those supreme moments of bliss did Winifred and I think much about Sinfi?  Alas, that love and happiness should be so selfish!

When at last the sound of Sinfi’s crwth and song came from some spot a good way up the rugged path leading to the summit, it quite startled us.

‘That’s Sinfi’s signal,’ said Winnie; ’that is the way we used to call each other when we were children.  She used to sing one verse of a Snowdon song, and I used to answer it with another.  Upon my word, Henry, I had forgotten all about her.  What a shame!  We have not seen each other since we parted yesterday at the camp.’

And she sprang up to go.

‘No, don’t leave me,’ I said; ’wait till she comes to us.  She’s sure to come quite soon enough.  Depend upon it she is eager to see how her coup de theatre has prospered.’

‘I must really go to her,’ said Winifred; ’ever since we left Hurstcote I have fallen in with her wishes in everything.’

‘But why?’

’Because I am sure from Mr. D’Arcy’s words that she has rendered me some great service, though what it is I can’t guess in the least.’

‘But what are really the plans of the day of this important Gypsy?’

‘There again I can’t guess in the least,’ said Winifred.  ’Probably the walk to the top and then down to Llanberis, and then on to Carnarvon, is really to take place, as originally arranged—­only with the slight addition that some one is to join us!  I shall soon be back, either alone or with Sinfi, and then we shall know.’

She ran up the path.  Against her wish I followed her for a time.  She moved towards the same dangerous ledge of rock where I had last seen her on that day before she vanished in the mist.