liHIilllli mill ill! H! 
 
 ONTHEWI 
 
 ^::i;ii,lll(lilHMl!>lliliini 
 
 ALLEN: 
 
 111- ,';>-! ''.:-'.v
 
 DBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALiFQRNlA 
 RiVERSIDt 
 
 f 
 
 DOIOGC «,. CO., 
 BookstUers aud Stationers,
 
 On the Wings of the Wind 
 
 u
 
 1 
 
 A RECORD 
 
 
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 A Welsh Singer 
 
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 American Sales. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 
 HUTCHINSON & CO., Paternoster Row
 
 On the Wings 
 of the Wind . 
 
 Pj/y\ /\^Y\?^ /\ksM^-\,, 
 
 BY 
 
 ALLEN RAINE 
 
 author of 
 
 "a welsh singer," "a welsh witch," 
 
 "torn sails," etc. 
 
 London 
 
 Hutchinson & Co. 
 
 Paternoster Row
 
 OD ClO"^ 
 
 p2>(3^.r

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Mastee and Man 
 
 lRT I 
 
 
 
 
 PAGH 
 1 
 
 II. Hafod y Bryn . 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 III. A Lonely Shore 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 IV. At Rest at Last 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 V. Pincushions . , 
 
 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 VI. Dream Faces 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 VII. "Bethel" Ghosts 
 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 VIII. New Friends 
 
 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 IX. A Woman's Will 
 
 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 X. The Fair 
 
 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 XI. Betta's Secret . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 116 
 
 xii. Gwen's Awakening 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 130 
 
 XIII. The "Sea Gull's" Arrival 
 
 
 
 
 . 143 
 
 PART II 
 
 XIV. The Chair Bard 
 
 
 
 . 155 
 
 XV. The Path by the River 
 
 
 
 . 166 
 
 XVI. Gwen's Memories 
 
 
 
 . 186 
 
 XVII. "The Mills of God" . 
 
 
 
 . 199 
 
 xvm. "Betta's Planet" 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 , 211
 
 VI 
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XIX. Glanberi 
 
 XX. Bbkakfast at Gwernddd 
 XXI. Bktta's Stoky . 
 XXII. Stokm Beaten . 
 
 XXIII, The End of the Storm 
 
 XXIV. CODNTRT GoSSIP . , 
 
 XXV. Dkio's Fifth Point' 
 XXVI. '"Tia an III Wind," Eto. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 222 
 241 
 257 
 272 
 290 
 305 
 318 
 829
 
 PART I
 
 On the Wings of the Wind 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MASTER AND MAN 
 
 Doctor Daniel Griffiths, or Doctor Dan as he was 
 generally called in his native town, rose late one morning, 
 tired out with his long journey of the day before. 
 
 Deio, his servant and factotum, had already brought the 
 gig round before his master came downstairs, and sat 
 waiting at the door, stolidly looking across the bridge 
 which connected the little town of Tregarreg with the steep 
 hilly country on the opposite side of the River Lidan, which 
 had wound its way in many curves through woods and 
 broad meadows before it passed swiftly under the arches of 
 the bridge. 
 
 It was a beautiful river, from its rise in the far away 
 bills of another county, to its broad flow into the sea a few 
 miles beyond Tregarreg bridge, and nowhere more beautiful 
 than just before it reached those restraining arches, where 
 it rushed headlong between its rocky sides by the walls of 
 Hendyrafon, the old, many-gabled house, in which Doctor 
 Dan was now hurrying through his late breakfast, not 
 unmindful of the musical rush of the river as it swept 
 under his windows. 
 
 Hendyrafon, or " the old river house," had been his home 
 
 A
 
 2 ®n tbe Minos of tbe min^ 
 
 from childhood; his parents had lived in it, his grand- 
 parents before them. 
 
 Though many parts of it were in a dilapidated condition, 
 and only a few rooms in the front were habitable, still, 
 with all its uneven gables, its crooked chimneys and its 
 lopsided doorways, it was dear to the young man, when he 
 had returned to it from the London hospital where he had 
 received his diploma to kill or cure the inhabitants of his 
 native town and the surrcmding district. 
 
 Here he had settled down full of the bright anticipations 
 of youth, to the great happiness of his parents, who, how- 
 ever, had not lived long to enjoy the rest and peace 
 to which they had looked forward through all the anxieties 
 and sacrifices necessary for the completion of their son's 
 education. When our story opens the latter was " parish 
 doctor," and there was scarcely an hour in the twenty- 
 four when he and Deio might not be met in the roads and 
 lanes of the neighbourhood. 
 
 Tall, erect and broad-shouldered. Doctor Dan's was a strik- 
 ing figure, whose strong, dark face one would turn to look at 
 in a crowd. About forty years of age, he looked much 
 younger. His close-cropped black hair and dark eyes, 
 whose brightness lighted up a countenance that would 
 otherwise have been somewhat sombre in hue and ex- 
 pression, were familiar objects in the little town, to every 
 inhabitant of which he was as well known as the Town 
 Clock. Silent and reticent in manner, he was nevertheless 
 very popular, and a welcome visitor at every country house, 
 farmstead and cottage. How many a weary heart in out- 
 of-the-way lonely corners of that sparsely - populated 
 neighbourhood had bounded with fresh hope at the sound 
 of his firm footstep as it alighted from his swinging gig ; 
 how many a deathbed had been soothed and comforted by 
 his manly sympathy and words of encouragement, it would 
 be difficult to say, and he himself knew least of all. 
 
 It was fifteen years since he had passed through a trying
 
 /Iftaster an& /IDan 3 
 
 ordeal which had threatened to wreck his life and ruin hia 
 moral nature. He had formed a deep attachment to the 
 daughter of an old friend of his father's, a retired sea 
 captain living within a mile of Tregarreg, and Matti Lloyd 
 had returned his affection with a fervour that promised to 
 gild the old rooms of Hendyrafon with the sunshine of 
 domestic happiness ; but that light had set in storm and 
 cloud. 
 
 Still he had clung to the old home, whose every wall and 
 stair and rail had tender memories for him, and few 
 had guessed how deeply the ploughshare of bitter sorrow 
 had furrowed his heart ; they only saw, at church, at fair 
 or market, the same clear-cut features, and straight, un- 
 bending figure, until at last, as the years went on, they 
 realised that Doctor Dan was not " what he used to be ; 
 go jolly he was ! so ready to laugh and show those white 
 teeth of his ! and such a merry sparkle in his eye ! and 
 now," they said, "he's as silent as Deio, and cuts his words 
 as short as if they cost money ! " 
 
 His practice was by no means a lucrative one, as it lay 
 for the most part amongst the farmers and shopkeepers of 
 Tregarreg, who were all amazingly healthy, and, moreover, 
 considered that money paid into the doctor's pockets was 
 money thrown away, until the last illness came upon them, 
 when, they all agreed, he was " a fine man to have at your 
 bedside, as tender as a woman, so wise, and so calm ! " 
 And so, though they managed to live without his services, 
 nobody within a radius of ten miles would wish to die 
 without the presence of that strong, dark face. 
 
 The meagreness of the income which he derived from his 
 profession troubled him not at all, for at heart he was 
 a farmer, and that old stubble yard at the back of the 
 house, with its barns and cow-sheds, which straggled down 
 by the river to the meadows where his three cows grazed 
 and his horses scampered about, were full of interest to 
 him, and, he was wont to say, brought him more profit
 
 4 ®u tbe Minos of tbe MtnD 
 
 than curing his neighbours. And no wonder ! for quite 
 one-third of his patients never dreamt of paying him any- 
 thing. Many of them were inmates of the " Pwrhouse," a 
 few dilapidated old tenements crowded together in a lane 
 leading out of the main street, that did duty for work- 
 house, asylum and infirmary, for there the blind, the halt, 
 the imbecile foregathered ; there was no rent to pay, and 
 Doctor Dan would minister to their ailments ! So it was 
 looked upon as a haven '^f refuge by the very poor and 
 needy ; in fact, in this den of squalor and poverty he found 
 his most interesting patients. Certainly, among them were 
 many curious types of humanity, their eccentricities un- 
 softened by contact with those of their fellow-creatures who 
 led a life of more ease and refinement. 
 
 " You are shocking late, sir," said Betti Luke, his old 
 servant and housekeeper, as he snatched a look at his 
 paper over his cofiee and toast. " Deio been waiting long 
 time." 
 
 "True, Betti!" answered the doctor, rising, and hurry- 
 ing to the front door, where he found Deio patiently 
 awaiting him. 
 
 Perhaps in the first years of their connection as master 
 and servant, Deio and he had varied the monotony of their 
 long drives by chatting upon the various topics that 
 cropped up in their daily work, but as the years passed on, 
 they had both become more taciturn, and now there 
 seemed to be a perfect understanding between them that 
 obviated the necessity for many words. 
 
 "To Sarneithin?" inquired the man, while the master 
 stepped into the gig. 
 
 " le," answered Doctor Dan, with a nod, and they began 
 their drive in silence. 
 
 Fortunately there was a stiff bit of collar work for 
 Samson as he started, for he was a horse of decidedly 
 capricious temper, and always began his day's work as 
 if he bore a standing grudge against the world in general,
 
 /roaster an& /Iftan 5 
 
 champing at his bit, pawing the ground, and, if he got the 
 chance, administering a kick of indignation to the patient 
 Deio, who with many "Woo-os" and "Comops" buckled 
 his harness and patted his sleek sides. 
 
 Reaching the top of the hill they took the high road 
 leading along the breezy heathery downs to the coast-line, 
 where at many a white farmhouse Doctor Dan alighted, 
 and Deio waited patiently in the gig. Down below the 
 rugged cliffs lay reaches of golden sand, with here and 
 there a group of thatched cottages, in all of which Doctor 
 Dan's was a familiar figure. But there was one secluded 
 lonely shore towards which he never turned Samson's 
 wilful head, and yet his skill was sorely needed in that 
 long, low house, whose white-washed walls seemed almost 
 buried in the green bank that rose so steeply behind it. 
 
 To-day, as every day, Deio and he drove rapidly by the 
 top of the broad green hollow that sloped in grassy curves 
 down to the beach below. The old house showed signs of 
 many a struggle with the north-west winds, that seemed to 
 make that broad slope both their playground and their 
 field of battle. There were yellow streaks of new straw 
 here and there on the roof, and even now Stivin Storrom, 
 standing on a ladder, was binding down the eaves with 
 fresh straw ropes and strong stakes. 
 
 His own cottage, which leaned confidingly on the " pine 
 end " of Doloer, the larger house, was so hidden behind the 
 high turf hedge, which curved round the " cwrt," that it 
 generally escaped damage from wind or storm. It looked 
 little bigger than a hen-house; but, if you passed round 
 the corner of that high hedge, you would find there room 
 for a hale and hearty old couple, who lived very comfort- 
 ably in their tiny hut^ — " comfort " being a word of com- 
 parative meaning. 
 
 These two houses were the only human habitations on 
 that lonely shore, for the gaunt, grey house that marked the 
 aky-line above the slope was scarcely upon it, but touched
 
 6 ®n tbe Minos of the mint> 
 
 the confines of the more cultivated country that stretched 
 away inland from the coast. Hafod y bryn, as it was 
 called (when there was anyone to call it so), had been 
 untenanted for many years, and its ivy-covered gables and 
 broken casements, where the owls and bats found comfort- 
 able quarters, only accentuated the solitude of the moor 
 which lay between it and the beach below. On each side 
 of the shore the towering cliffs stood like sentinels silently 
 watching the stormy bay ; between them the open moor 
 stretched smoothly upwards, giving the impression that 
 it had once slipped dotonwards with the strong, glacial 
 motion that had filled the broad valley with mud and 
 dSris, now covered with greensward, from which rose here 
 and there huge boulders of granite. The same irresistible 
 motion had probably also carried out the dangerous line of 
 rocks which crossed the bay just beyond low-water mark, 
 where those white breakers tossed up their foaming crests 
 into the air. 
 
 The somewhat tame evenness of the slope disappeared 
 on a closer acquaintance with it ; it was beautiful in its 
 own way, and Miriel Lloyd, whose small shoes had made 
 the only mark upon the beach since the last tide had left 
 it bare, would have stared indeed, with those wonderful 
 grey eyes of hers, if she had heard a disparaging remark 
 on her " beautiful slope." Doloer, that long, low, white 
 house, was " home " to her, and bore in the sound of its 
 name all the sweet and tender associations that haunt the 
 Welsh word "gartre." If it was cold and storm-beaten, 
 her young, fresh life did not feel it ; if it was lonely, she 
 was unconscious of it. To her, every flower and star was 
 a friend, every bird and beast a brother or sister, and, in 
 spite of her life of loneHness, her bright and sensitive 
 nature found ample nourishment for a full development in 
 the scenes and sounds around her. 
 
 The shore had not even a name of its own, but was 
 generally known as " y traeth unig," or the lone shore.
 
 /IDaster anb /Dban 7 
 
 The fishing boats and ships passed by at a safe distance ; 
 nobody ever landed there, the line of rocks crossing the 
 beach just beyond low-water mark making it dangerous 
 to do so ; besides which, there was nothing to tempt any- 
 one to land, no inn where the thirsty boatman could 
 refresh himself with a " blue " of ale, no convenient place 
 for mooring a boat, not even a road from the beach to the 
 top of the moor. 
 
 The door at Doloer stood always open, for, buried within 
 the thick walls of the porch, it was sheltered from the wind 
 and rain. Generally, the shoes that had marked the sand 
 clattered in and out and round about it. Within, there 
 were two other inmates, one of whom was also often to be 
 seen passing in and out from house to garden, from garden 
 to shed, but always seeming to keep watch over something 
 in the interior ; a woman between thirty and forty, pale 
 and worn, but still bearing traces of a beauty which had 
 once been the cause of sorrow to many hearts, and of her 
 own ruin. The bloom on her cheek had faded and there 
 were lines of care round the mouth ; the dazzling white 
 teeth and the charm of expression alone remained. 
 
 Her frail and delicate body seemed quite unequal to the 
 continual drudgery in which she was engaged, but she 
 appeared to live upon some hidden spring of energy which 
 helped her on her way. Her voice, though hollow and a 
 little husky, was low and tender, and her lustrous eyes 
 still shone with some of the light which, in her younger 
 days, made them the chief attraction of a very charming 
 face. Her hair, still black and abundant though streaked 
 with grey, was hidden under a cap of linen ; her dress, 
 scrupulously neat and clean, was of the coarsest and 
 plainest homespun. As she passed for the twentieth 
 time from the garden to the house, she gathered a bunch 
 of wallflowers which grew between the stones of the porch 
 wall. 
 
 Under the large open chimney in the " penisha," and
 
 8 m tbe Minos of tbe nmtnO 
 
 in the cosiest corner, stood a round-backed oak chair, in 
 which sat the object of Matti Lloyd's constant care and 
 solicitude— another woman, her sister, perhaps a year or 
 two older than herself, but without the worn and wasted 
 look which gave such a pathetic interest to Matti's face. 
 
 Gwen Lloyd had been a beautiful woman fifteen years 
 earUer, and she still retained her beauty in a remarkable 
 degree considering that she was now no longer young. No 
 wrinkles marred the fair smoothness of her face ; her hair, 
 though grey, was wavy and thick ; her dress, of Welsh 
 country fashion and make, betokened more care and 
 attention to ornament and grace, though it could not be 
 more spotlessly clean, than her sister's. A neckerchief of 
 fine white muslin, edged with lace, was pinned over her 
 neck, and her abundant hair, plaited in thick bands, was 
 coiled like a crown at the top of her head. A cushion of 
 bright patchwork was tied at the back of the chair where 
 the head could recline easily, a footstool of straw stood 
 before her on which rested her feet, neatly, and even 
 daintily, shod ; though her shoes were of country make 
 they were bright and shining, and the bows of black 
 ribbon on the insteps were tied with care and neatness, 
 " Smell them, Gwen fach," said Matti, holding the bunch 
 of wallflowers to her face. But there was no interest in 
 the beautiful eyes, no answering smile on the lips, as she 
 somewhat impatiently pushed the flowers aside, and, lean- 
 ing forward in her chair, gazed with vacant look upon 
 some imaginary object, invisible to everyone but herself ; 
 for Gwen was distraught, the light of reason had long 
 faded from her eyes, and she sat from day to day busily 
 spinning with an invisible thread upon an imaginary 
 spinning-wheel. With the thumb and finger of each 
 hand alternately she drew the winding thread towards 
 her, letting it run back again on its reel, all the while 
 whispering words that, in their rapid flow, caught and 
 tripped each other into an incoherent jumble. Occasion-
 
 /roaster an& /in»an 9 
 
 ally a single word made itself heard distinctly, and then 
 Matti would shudder, and sometimes the tears would well 
 up into her eyes. Sometimes, too, Gwen would croon to 
 herself the refrain of an old sea song which, in her happier 
 years, had been a favourite of hers : — 
 
 " On the wings of the wind he is coming to m» 
 Over the salt sea foam, 
 Out of the west where the wind blows free, 
 My sailor is sailing home I " 
 
 Generally placid and unruffled, there were days when 
 the spirit of unrest seemed to possess her ; she tugged at 
 her thread irritably, shed tears over the intricacies of her 
 spinning, rising from her seat and roaming aimlessly about 
 the cottage. 
 
 At such times Matti would stand in the doorway, and, 
 shading her eyes with her hand, would look out over the 
 open bay, exclaiming, " Howyr bach ! Here is the Hawk 
 sailing in, and Silvan Vaughan coming up the shore ! " 
 The invariable effect of these words was to calm and 
 soothe Gwen's irritable nerves, to lay a spell of happiness 
 upon the joyless existence, and she would sit to her 
 spinning again with a smooth brow, adjusting the braids 
 of her hair, arranging the lace kerchief on her neck and 
 looking with a smile towards the open doorway. The 
 long-waited-for never arrived, and in a short time Gwen 
 forgot that she had expected him. But the charm re- 
 mained, and the ruffled spirit was at peace again. 
 
 Matti had long ago settled with her conscience the ques- 
 tion of deceiving her sister for her own good. " She is not 
 wise" she would say, " and there is no mind to deceive." 
 Besides, the saying of those few words was a bitter trial 
 to Matti, at which she would turn a shade paler, and 
 often press her hand over her heart ; it was hateful to 
 her, and therefore must be done unflinchingly and relent- 
 lessly.
 
 lo ©n tbe Minas of tbe Mln& 
 
 Her niece Miriel had learned the simple trick too, though 
 quite ignorant of its meaning, and whenever she saw signs 
 of unrest in Gwen's face would run to the doorway, and, 
 imitating her aunt's actions, would shade her eyes with her 
 hand, and say, " Howyr bach ! Here is the Hawk sailing 
 in, and Silvan Vaughan coming up the shore ! " with the 
 usual result of quieting the restless woman. 
 
 To-day she was calm and unruffled, and the never-dying 
 hope sprang up in Matti's heart, as she held towards her 
 sister the bunch of wallflowers which she had gathered in 
 the porch. 
 
 •' Gilly flowers, Gwen fach ! " she said. " Do you re- 
 member how they used to grow by the garden gate at 
 Tygwyn ? " but Gwen took no notice of the delicate frag- 
 rance, there was no responsive pleasure on the impassive 
 face, and Matti, with a sorrowful droop on her lip, turned 
 away with the desponding look that for fifteen years had 
 followed every attempt to recall her sister's reasoning 
 powers. 
 
 She placed the rich brown and gold blossoms in a blue 
 mug on the dresser, and began her simple preparations for 
 their frugal dinner. Hanging from the open chimney, the 
 large crock of " cawl " simmered over the fire, and having 
 spread a speckless cloth over the black oak table, and laid 
 upon it three plates, three basins and three silver spoons, 
 she fished out of the crock a piece of bacon, placed 
 it on a dish, and on another, such vegetables as she 
 could ladle out. A flat barley loaf graced the middle of 
 the table, and having cut from it two long slices, and filled 
 the basins with cawl, Matti's preparations were complete, 
 except that on Gwen's plate she placed a slice from a dainty 
 wheaten loaf. Then she went out to the doorway and 
 peered down the grassy slope and over the golden sands, 
 in search of somebody who evidently was not there, for she 
 turned and looked up the great hillside, and, catching sight 
 of a blue figure, called loudly, " Miriel ! " lengthening out
 
 /iDaster ant) /iDan 
 
 II 
 
 the last syllable until it woke the echoes from hillside and 
 valley. A call as loud and clear came from the hilltop, and 
 down the slope, with streaming golden hair and fluttering 
 skirts, Miriel ran with flying footsteps which brought her 
 rapidly nearer home, and when Matti had had time to turn 
 her sister's chair to the table the girl arrived breathless and 
 panting, the grace of youth and health in every limb and 
 feature, her grey eyes sparkling with happiness. The first 
 sight of her gave an impression of slender supple strength, 
 not an angle or awkward curve in her whole form, from the 
 slim arms and fingers to the small feet. 
 
 She sat down to her dinner at once with the healthy 
 appetite of a country girl ; Gwen drinking her cawl in 
 silence and making a good meal, though daintily and 
 slowly. 
 
 " Oh, Nanti Matti ! " said the girl, " aren't you glad ? 
 The swallows have come and are beginning to build." 
 
 '• So soon, child ? Surely no ! " 
 
 " 'Tis not soon ; 'tis the right time. They told me so, 
 and T heard them tell each other." 
 
 Nanti Matti looked serious. 
 
 " Nonsense," she said, " you are too old to say such things 
 now, Miriel." 
 
 The girl laughed. 
 
 " Why, then ? " she said, " for it is true. 'Tis the right 
 time. I heard them twittering together at Hafod y bryn, 
 and I understand what they say." 
 
 Matti smiled " Ts, ts, ts, she's a silly child, and I shall 
 never cure her ! " 
 
 Miriel continued her dinner in silence, noticing, but 
 making no remark, when her aunt quietly returned her 
 slice of bacon to the dish before she began her own dinner, 
 which she made entirely of the barley bread and cawl, no 
 scrape of butter, no crumb of cheese to flavour the coarse 
 bread ; in fact, Matti Lloyd's life was one of continual 
 self-denial and self-effacement. Immolation of " self " had
 
 12 ®n tbe Timings of tbe Minb 
 
 become almost a passion with her ; nothing was too dear 
 for her to give up, no hardship too great for her to take 
 upon herself; no ascetic ever denied or tortured himself 
 more systematically than did she who still performed her 
 simple daily duties with cheerfulness and calmness. Only 
 sometimes, when after repeated efforts to recall her sister's 
 reason to the scenes and events of real life, and to awaken 
 the dormant faculties, when her efforts seemed on the point 
 of success and a word or smile from Gwen would raise a 
 fluttering hope in her heart, then when the vacant look 
 and the sibilant words returned, Matti's courage would fail, 
 and a fit of wild sobbing alone would relieve the cruel 
 tension of fifteen years. It was so long as that since she 
 and Gwen had been the beauties of the countryside, the 
 admired and coveted prizes which many a young man's 
 heart reached after. Down in the valley behind that rock- 
 crowned hill they lived in the happy content of country 
 peace and plenty. Their father, John Lloyd, of Tygwyn, 
 had been a wealthy man, of higher birth and station than 
 the ordinary surrounding farmers, as the old Tygwyn 
 pedigree plainly demonstrated, much to his satisfaction, 
 for he was proud of his old ancestry, and often reminded 
 his daughters, when the young lads of the countryside 
 pressed their suits, that they were come of a " better stock " 
 than their neighbours. No happier family ever lived than 
 that which passed its peaceful existence under the old roof 
 of Tygwyn, until the terrible tragedy occurred which 
 wrecked the reputation of the younger daughter and 
 robbed the elder of her reason. It broke the gentle 
 mother's heart, and John Lloyd himself so lost his in- 
 terest in his worldly affairs, that in an incredibly short 
 time his riches seemed to take to themselves the proverbial 
 wings, and left him to die in poor and ruined circumstances. 
 When his affairs were wound up, it was found that Tygwyn 
 the old homestead of his family for generations, must be 
 sold to provide a small, very small, income for his two
 
 /IDaster ant) /IDan 13 
 
 daughters. It was fortunate for them that Doloer, the old 
 rambling house by the sea, belonged to them, for here they 
 found refuge and a shelter in which to hide the shame and 
 sorrow that had made them the subject of gossip through 
 the whole neighbourhood ; here they were soon forgotten 
 by the scantily - populated countryside, and here for 
 fifteen years they had lived out their uneventful lives, 
 cherishing the traditions and memories of their past pres- 
 tige, and conversing habitually in English, often a literal 
 translation of their native tongue eked out with many 
 words and expressions from the same source. They clung 
 to this custom, which had descended to them from some 
 forgotten episode in the Hfe of their ancestors, retaining it 
 with pride as a distinguishing line between them and the 
 surrounding peasantry. 
 
 Twelve years before our story opens an event of great 
 interest had befallen them, of great interest to Matti that 
 is, for nothing awoke Gwen's sleeping faculties, or disturbed 
 her continual spinning at her invisible wheel ; the dreamy 
 eyes still watched the spindle, the impatient fingers still 
 busied themselves with the tightening and loosening thread 
 in spite of the advent of the little motherless child, who, by 
 the death of their only brother and his wife, was thrown 
 upon their hands for sustenance and love. 
 
 Matti had taken the child to her heart with the avidity 
 of a love-starved woman, and even Gwen, though she took 
 no interest in the playful ways of the little one, still, gradu- 
 ally allowed the warm hand to nestle in her own, the rosy 
 lips to kiss her cheek, and by degrees little Miriel became 
 her constant companion, vying with Matti in her unselfish 
 devotion to the invalid.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HAPOD Y BRYN 
 
 "And where has she been this morning?" asked Matti, 
 addressing the girl in the third person as is often done in 
 Wales as a form of endearment. " To Hafod y bryn, as 
 usual 1 " 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said the girl. " 'Tis there the swallows 
 are nesting and twittering. When Nanti Gwen is asleep I 
 must go up there again, because poor Quitto is lying under 
 the ivy very ill, dying, I think. Oh, Nanti Matti, that is a 
 cruel thing, that we may love things dearly and yet we can- 
 not bear their pain for them. If God would only let us, 
 there's glad I would be ! " 
 
 A tender smile was on Matti's lips and a light of love 
 glistened in her eyes as she answered, — 
 
 " God will grant her wish de-an ; but, 'tis time to take 
 Nanti Gwen to rest." Miriel drew the listless arm through her 
 own, and led the aimless footsteps across the " penisha " and 
 through the open door into the long "penucha," which was 
 nearly filled up by the old-fashioned fourpost bed, occupied 
 at night by Matti and herself — further on again, through 
 another open doorway and up two steps, to a quaint little 
 bedroom where the brown rafters hung low, and the win- 
 dow, deep seated in the massive whitewashed wall, let in 
 the afternoon sunlight. Gwen threw herself on her bed, 
 and Miriel drew over her the coverlet of faded blue and 
 yellow silk, made from the old silk dresses of bygone 
 Lloyds of Tygwyn. She had scarcely laid her head on the 
 
 14
 
 H^afob g 3Br^n is 
 
 pillow before she was asleep, and here she would remain, 
 white and still, until Matti or Miriel came in and called 
 her to tea. 
 
 " For the sick dog," said Matti, handing Miriel a little 
 jug of milk as she passed through the penisha. " Will she 
 give it to him ? " 
 
 "That will I, you may be sure," said the girl, and she 
 passed out into the sunshine, leaving Matti in the dim light 
 of the interior. 
 
 It was as it should be, she thought, as she busied herself 
 with her household duties ; the girl to the sunshine and 
 the fresh sea breeze, and Gwen to rest and sleep, and for 
 her the shade, the solitude, the aching heart, the bitter 
 memories of the past ! When all her work was done, the 
 hearth swept, the fire replenished, the kettle hung to the 
 chain under the chimney, she reached her knitting from the 
 deep window-sill, and, sitting down by the lonely hearth, 
 allowed her thoughts to roam in the old familiar paths of 
 memory. She thought of her happy, careless childhood, so 
 full of the fresh joys of youth, the young companions who 
 shared her games and pleasures ; she remembered the 
 happy days of girlhood, when, petted and spoiled by their 
 indulgent parents, she and Gwen had but to express a wish 
 and it was gratified. Gone ! all gone ! The last days of 
 those tender parents darkened by her madness and folly. 
 She remembered, ah ! how well ! the strong, pure love that 
 had gilded the early years of her girlhood. Where was 
 that now? and, dropping her knitting on her lap, she 
 pressed her hands over her eyes, the slow tears trickling 
 through her fingers as she realised that that too was lost to 
 her. Then she recalled the days of darkness, the indis- 
 cretions, the vanity, the follies which had wrecked her life. 
 
 Her needles clicked again, and her head bent low over 
 her work, while bitter regrets and self-upbraidings racked 
 her heart. 
 
 The afternoon wore on, until at last she heard Miriel's
 
 i6 ®n tbe miuQS of tbe Min& 
 
 step on the cobble stone in the porch, and, awaking from 
 her dreams, she laid her knitting aside and met the girl 
 with a cheerful smile. 
 
 " Well ! has she come back 1 Surely it is not tea-time 
 already? and how is the pwr dog?" 
 
 " Pwr Quitto ! He has come from Llaneithin to die all 
 alone at Hafod. 'Tis sad to die all alone." 
 
 " Yes ; for a human being, but a dog — well, he doesn't 
 feel it, I suppose." 
 
 Miriel sighed, and went pensively into her aunt's room, 
 from which she soon returned leading Gwen's tall, 
 wavering figure. 
 
 Matti held out both hands to lead her sister to the com- 
 fortable chair in the corner. 
 
 " Have you had a nice sleep, Gwen fach 1 " she asked. 
 
 There was no answer, but Matti would not be dis- 
 couraged in her efforts to cheer. 
 
 She pushed the straw footstool under her feet, and 
 shook up the bright patchwork cushion for her head, but 
 Gwen refused them all, and began at once her invisible 
 spinning, drawing the thread towards her with the usual 
 string of whispered words. 
 
 The depressing influence of this continual ctraying of 
 reason made no outward impression upon Matti, though 
 inwardly it chafed at the roots of her being, and every 
 day and every hour helped to loosen the thread which 
 kept her still chained to life. 
 
 Although Miriel had grown up in this atmosphere of 
 sorrow and sadness, her young bright sjnrit had strength 
 and joy enough within itself to cast off the gloom which 
 surrounded her. 
 
 The greater part of her life was spent in the open air, 
 roaming the hillside or the shore, drinking in the sweet 
 counteracting influences of Nature, and certainly she bid 
 fair to come out victorious from her battle with depression 
 and gloom.
 
 Ibafot) 5 3Brsn 17 
 
 She suffered acutely in sympathy with the animal 
 creation around her, but had hitherto not awakened keenly 
 to human suffering. 
 
 Nanti Gwen had always been to her the same pale, 
 unresponsive statue, and although her helplessness had 
 drawn out the love of the sensitive child, it had not 
 hitherto pained her as it did Matti. 
 
 True, she was beginning to find out that some mysterious 
 cloud of sorrow brooded over the atmosphere of Doloer, 
 but she hid the dawning suspicion in the depths of her 
 own heart, shrinking, though unconsciously, from wound 
 ing the tenderly - indulgent head of the household by 
 curious questioning ; for, in spite of the extreme simplicity 
 and even meagreness of the household menage, a certain 
 air of refinement reigned in that low-browed house that had 
 taught Miriel the reticence and consideration for others 
 which is the most valuable effect of good breeding. 
 
 Matti was therefore not a little startled when one even- 
 ing the girl suddenly said, " I have found out what words 
 Nanti Gwen is always whispering. Last night when you 
 were milking the goats she spoke them so plainly. They 
 were — ' Oh, what a sister ! ' I wonder what she meant? " 
 
 Matti's face blanched a little and her eyes had a pained 
 look in them as she answered, — 
 
 " You are too curious, child ; Gwen's words are too 
 mixed up to make sense of them." 
 
 " But she did say that," persisted the girl ; " and I 
 think she said 'God help me,' too." 
 
 Matti looked sorrowfully at Gwen, who was taking her 
 tea placidly with no apparent consciousness of the conver- 
 sation. For a moment an impatient reproof had risen to 
 Matti's lips, but, with the usual restraint and repression 
 which she placed upon her feelings, she answered patiently, 
 " Well, pray God ! she may be restored some day ! You 
 will always pray for that, Miriel ? and you will try your 
 best to bring it about when I am gone 1 " 
 
 B
 
 1 8 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 " Yes, indeed, and it's sure to come some day." 
 
 "When the evening shadows were darkening the old 
 "penisha," Matti sat at her knitting, and Gwen at her 
 spinning, while Miriel on the three-legged stool on the 
 the hearth nursed her chin in her palm and listened to the 
 crooning of the wind in the big chimney. 
 
 "There's a storm coming, I think," she said at last. 
 "The daffodils are swaying very much in the wind." They 
 were silent again, and the old clock ticked in the corner, 
 the red glow of the culm fire filled the room with its cheer- 
 ful crimson light, the crescent moon looked in upon them 
 through the panes of the deep-set window, and the old 
 black cat purred on the spinning-wheel — the real one 
 which stood against the wall. 
 
 The little household went early to bed, but, after a sleep 
 of two or three hours, Miriel rose, and, having silently 
 dressed herself, lifted the wooden latch and let herself out 
 into the cold night air. 
 
 She made her way through the darkness, only fitfully 
 lighted by an occasional glimpse of the moon, over whose 
 face the clouds were driving rapidly; the wind sighed 
 in the bushes, there was a sullen murmur of heavy swells 
 on the sea behind her, but she heeded nothing as, drawing 
 her cloak tightly around her, she sped onwards; up the 
 open hillside to the old grey house at the top where Quitto 
 still lay suffering. 
 
 " Oh, Quitto ! anwyl, anwyl ! " said the girl, flinging 
 herself down on the ground beside the panting dog, " if 
 only I could bear your pain for you, I would, I would ! " 
 
 Quitto whined and tried to wag his bushy tail. 
 
 She laid her head close to his and passed her arm 
 over him. 
 
 "We've been so happy together, Quitto, every day 
 together ! You understood me and I understood you. 
 Oh, Quitto, anwyl, I will not leave you, I will stay with 
 you ! "
 
 The dying dog even in his pain managed to lick the 
 cheek that was so close to him. 
 
 The hours sped on, the night wind was cold, the gloom 
 and darkness often complete, but the girl thought nothing 
 of this, her whole being absorbed in pity and love for the 
 creature who had been her friend and companion for years. 
 She had never known what it was to have a human 
 companion outside Doloer, had scarcely ever conversed 
 with one of her own age. She had seen lads and lasses in 
 the farms of the neighbourhood, but they had never shown 
 any desire to make more than a passing remark, or to ask 
 an inquisitive question about the "mad woman" at 
 Doloer, and Miriel, with a reticent shyness, had shrunk 
 into herself, and had returned contentedly to the society 
 she found on the hillside and shore, the sheep, the dogs, 
 her two goats, the larks, the thrushes, the seagulls, and 
 numerous other "brothers and sisters." And now her 
 oldest and best friend was dying alone and in pain, was it 
 anything wonderful that her tender heart was torn with 
 longing grief ! and that she heeded not the darkness, the 
 cold, nor the wind ? At last in the dim grey of the morning 
 Quitto showed signs of increasing difficulty in breathing, 
 and Miriel passed her arm gently under his head, and 
 looked into the fast-darkening eyes with words of pitying 
 love. When at last ho lay sti£f and still before her, she 
 burst into a torrent of tears. The mystery of Death was 
 upon her, and the young fresh spirit shuddered and shrank 
 from its sadness. 
 
 " I will dig his grave," she said, and hurried down the 
 slope, returning shortly with a spade and mattock. 
 
 She was strong and healthy, and had soon dug a resting- 
 place for her friend in the corner which he himself had 
 chosen to die in. When it was deep enough and long 
 enough, she lifted the heavy dog with difficulty, and, laying 
 him tenderly down, stood a moment hesitating, then drew 
 from her neck the muslin kerchief which she wore, and,
 
 20 ®n tbc Minos of tbe Mint) 
 
 spreading it over him, began to shovel in the loose soil with 
 many tears and loving words. When all was done and the 
 sods laid over the new earth, she turned thoughtfully away, 
 and half-way down the slope was greeted by another 
 friend. "Tiger," the mill dog from over the moor, raced 
 over the grass to meet her ; bounding, bowing, barking, he 
 jumped up to her face. "Not to-day, Tiger bach," she 
 said sadly ; " I cannot play to-day," and the dog, missing 
 his usual warm greeting, turned away rather dejectedly. 
 " Come to-morrow, Tiger," she called after him ; *' we must 
 get used to sorrow thee know'st." 
 
 At breakfast she said nothing of the night's experience, 
 for she had learnt that her great love of the animal creation 
 was something of which other people disapproved, or at 
 least treated with an indulgent smile of amusement. 
 
 The months sped on, bringing little outward change to 
 the quiet lives at Doloer, only Mattigrew paler and thinner, 
 and ever the cruel repression and self-denial grew more 
 rigorous though more secret. The passion of penitence and 
 self-abasement grew stronger as she felt the loosening of 
 the cords which bound her to earth ; not a tender emotion 
 but was schooled and clipped of its wings, not a taste for 
 refinement and delicacy but was checked and controlled ; 
 the coarsest food, the roughest clothing she took as her 
 share, and all with a smile of content on her lips and 
 a lavish love and tenderness for everyone else's weakness, 
 which made, in the sorrow-stricken home, a path of bright- 
 ness for Miriel's young life and a cosy nest of comfort for 
 Gwen.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A LONELY SHORE 
 
 A PEW days later on, Doctor Dan and Deio, after numerous 
 divergences across fields, through shallow streams, and up 
 lanes leading to cottage or hamlet, once more reached the 
 broad high road running along the brow of the bare 
 hills which bordered the sea coast. They had scarcely 
 driven half a mile along its course, however, when a girl 
 with wind-blown yellow hair called loudly to them as they 
 drove rapidly past her. They heard the voice, but took no 
 heed, thinking it the ordinary greeting of the countryside 
 children, and were quickly nearing a curve in the road 
 which would take them out of her sight entirely, when the 
 girl, with a pucker on her white forehead, seemed to come 
 to a sudden determination, for she quickly climbed the low 
 bank that divided the road from the moor, and, running 
 through the gorse and heather, reached the further point of 
 the curve before the doctor and Deio. Here the bank was 
 lower, and she had no difficulty in leaping over it at a 
 bound, arriving on the road just a yard or two in front of 
 Samson, who resented the interruption to his rapid trot 
 by swerving violently aside, and all but upsetting the two 
 occupants of the gig. There was a short, startled expletive 
 from Doctor Dan as he sprang out of the trap, and, seizing 
 the girl by the shoulder, he shook her, though not roughly. 
 " How dare you, child ! Did you want to kill us 1 " and 
 he shook her again, while Deio got out to pat and coax the 
 angry, restive horse. 
 
 21
 
 22 ®n tbe nmms of tbe Min& 
 
 The girl's grey eyes looked fearlessly into his. 
 
 •'I called and you wouldn't stop, so I ran across the 
 field, but anw'l ! I did not think Samson would start like 
 that." 
 
 "Never do that again," said the doctor, shaking his 
 whip at her. 
 
 As soon as he had loosened his grip of her blue gown 
 she approached the insulted horse, and with words of 
 endearment passed her arm round his neck. For a 
 moment he put back his ears and drew up his lip, showing 
 the formidable teeth, and Deio excitedly bade her desist. 
 
 " Back, girl ! " cried the doctor, " he bites. Do you want 
 to be hurt yourself ? " 
 
 But Samson was already showing signs of amiability ; 
 he whinnied and arched his neck, while the girl, with 
 perfect confidence, drew his head towards her and breathed 
 into his nostrils. The efiect was marvellous and Doctor 
 Dan looked on surprised. 
 
 "He won't hurt me," said Miriel, for it was she; "we 
 are old friends, and we've spent many an hour together on 
 the hillside. You bought him from Essec Hughes of 
 Llanpellan." 
 
 " Well, what do you want with me? Who is ill?" 
 
 " Nanti Matti," said Miriel, withdrawing her arm from 
 Samson's neck. " She's very ill." 
 
 " Nanti Matti ? What, Matti Lloyd of Doloer ? " 
 
 The girl nodded ; there were tears in her eyes. Deio 
 climbed clumsily into the gig and the doctor followed. 
 
 " Which way ? " he said. 
 
 "This way," said Miriel, pointing to the smooth turf 
 between the furze bushes. " There's no road." 
 
 " No ! I remember." 
 
 "No, no," said Deio, "that's no otts," and he turned the 
 horse's head towards the low bank. This was nothing for 
 Samson. He took it with a will, and the light gig jerked 
 over the bank on to the moor beyond, where Miriel ran
 
 before them, piloting them through the heather and 
 between the furze bushes. They went down the slope 
 noiselessly and steadily, for Samson knew his way well 
 and seemed pleased once more to tread his native heath. 
 Arriving at Doloer, the doctor alighted, Miriel holding the 
 little gate of the cwrt open. 
 
 "You can drive on, Deio, to Llanpellan, Sarneithin 
 and Dolwen ; leave the medicine and say I will come 
 to-morrow. There's not much the matter with any of 
 them." 
 
 Deio nodded. There was a mile or two between each of 
 these houses, and the nearest was two miles off, but that 
 was nothing to Deio or Samson, both accustomed to the 
 long and devious ways of a country practice. Doctor Dan 
 followed the girl in through the porch, and Matti, waiting 
 on the settle under the big chimney, trembled as she heard 
 the firm footstep. 
 
 No cushion supported her weary head, no footstool rested 
 the tired feet, no screen kept out the keen March wind 
 which swept in at the open door. 
 
 Miriel had offered all three, but Matti had shaken her 
 head with " No, de-an, there is no need." 
 
 The thick coils of her hair had escaped from the re- 
 straining cap ; her lustrous eyes were surrounded by deep 
 hollows ; the dazzling white teeth were still there, and the 
 hectic flush on the cheeks simulated the healthy roses that 
 had once bloomed there. Her hands lay listlessly on 
 her lap, her fingers picking at the threads of her coarse 
 apron. 
 
 For a moment Doctor Dan stood transfixed ; his sudden 
 entrance into the subdued light of the penisha had perhaps 
 blinded him. Matti's fluttering breath could be heard in 
 the stillness while the doctor took both her hands in his. 
 For another moment neither spoke, but gazed at each 
 other in silence, and in silence he took the chair beside 
 her, while, turning her head away, the tears welled over
 
 24 ®n tbe Mtnos of tbe MinD 
 
 in her eyes and coursed after each other slowly down her 
 cheek. 
 
 "Fifteen years, Matti; 'tis a long time." 
 
 "Yes, a long time!" was all her answer, for all had 
 been said between them years ago. The last word had 
 been spoken, the last petal had been shred from as fair a 
 flower of love as had ever bloomed in this cold world ; for 
 then Matti Lloyd had returned to her old home, to the 
 parents whose hearts she had broken, to the sister whose 
 reason had fled, to the faithful lover whom she had 
 deserted. Penitent and crushed she had returned, her 
 heart filled to overflowing with the desire of self-immola- 
 tion at the shrine of repentance and duty, prepared for 
 every wound that could be inflicted upon her, pressing 
 close to her heart the barbed stings of insults and taunts, 
 rejoicing in any degradation that might be heaped upon 
 her, desirous only of bearing and enduring for the rest of 
 her life. Above all things, Dan Grifiiths's tender pity and 
 forgiveness had touched her with a deep remorse. She 
 knew well that her love for him was undying and strong 
 as it had ever been, but she had put away from her his 
 generous offer of continued friendship, and turned her face 
 with resolute firmness towards the path of enpiation and 
 endurance. 
 
 " Yes, 'tis a long time ; you are right," said the doctor, 
 at last, when the first awkwardness of the meeting was 
 over. " Every Friday, when I have seen the market- 
 women come down the hill to town, I have wondered 
 whether you would send for me, and, as you did not send, 
 I hoped you were well ; but there I fear I was mistaken," 
 and he looked pityingly at the frail figure before him, and, 
 putting on a professional air, he laid his fingers on the 
 languid pulse. 
 
 The black cat purred on the hearth, the old clock ticked 
 in the corner, while Doctor Dan silently read the signs of 
 fast-approaching death in the woman whom he had loved
 
 H Xonel\? Sbore «s 
 
 with all the strength of a first love, and who had repaid 
 that love by deceit and desertion. It was long ago, the 
 bitterness was dying out of his life, and only the tender 
 memories returned at the sight of the dying woman, the 
 shadow and wreck of her former self. 
 
 " Why didn't you send for me sooner ? " he asked. " I 
 would have come at any moment." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I know ! You are kind and good as ever, 
 Dan. But how could I, how would I dare, to send for the 
 man I had injured so much 1 I would not have sent for 
 you now, only I wanted to make it plain to you before I 
 died how I came to do you such a cruel wrong." 
 
 "You explained it all to me fifteen years ago, Matti. I 
 know that the serpent beguiled you, and I forgave you 
 then, as I do now, fully and entirely." 
 
 " But listen, listen, Dan ! I want to tell you every- 
 thing." 
 
 " But you are talking too much, 'merch i ; you will be 
 tired." 
 
 At the word " 'merch i " Matti hid her face in her 
 hands. She had never expected to hear that word from 
 him again. 
 
 " Dan ! I thought when I saw you last that, in spite of 
 all, you still loved me t " 
 
 "I did, Matti, or I could not have forgiven you." 
 
 " Well, well ! I feared for myself that the great tempta- 
 tion of dwelling upon your faithful love might be turning 
 me aside from the hard path that I had determined to 
 walk in, and I wanted you to forget that I was still living, 
 so that you might be free to find someone more worthy 
 than me to fill your heart, and so I never made a sign nor 
 sent for you, though God knows I have often been in sore 
 need of help. Well, it was half in fun that I went on 
 board the Hawk that night ; it was bright moonlight, and 
 there were herrings in the bay. ' Come out and see the 
 herrings,' he said, • they are flashing like silver in the
 
 26 ®n tbe Minos of tf3e MtuD 
 
 moonlight.' And I went, leaving Gwen in the parlour 
 waiting for him, and knowing that you were away and 
 would not be back till the next day. For six months he 
 had courted me, Dan; deceiving you and Gwen, oh! so 
 cruelly. I cannot think what made him fancy me, but I 
 think Gwen was too good and wise for him, and I was 
 wild and wicked and more ready for any folly ; but oh ! I 
 little thought that night, when he helped me up the side 
 of the Hawk, that I would never leave it again until I 
 came back a year afterwards, my heart broken, my name 
 disgraced, my honour gone ! For long he had tried to 
 entice me to sail away with him. He said we would fly 
 over to Cork and be married there, and, out in the moon- 
 light, with the herrings glittering round us and the soft 
 wind singing in the cordage, I consented. Oh, Dan, I was 
 mad ! I was deserted by my good angel, or, perhaps, I 
 thrust her from me. We could not land at Cork, for a 
 sudden storm came on. Before morning the wind blew 
 furiously and the ship sped on ; and then I saw that 
 already I had lost my good name, my character, all that 
 is most dear to a woman ; and long before we reached that 
 far-off foreign land, where we sailed for a cargo of fruit, 
 my sinful passion had died in ashes, for I saw him as he 
 was — a weak and selfish man ; and I saw too, Dan, that 
 his real love was Gwen's and not mine, but that did not 
 grieve me, except for her sake. He honoured her and 
 despised me, and no wonder ! I compared him with you, 
 Dan, and I awoke and saw how wicked I had been, how 
 false to you, how cruel to poor Gwen. When we returned 
 to Spain, worn out with my tears and my anger, he offered 
 to marry me, to buy me a home there, and to return there 
 after every voyage ; but I refused, I showed him the 
 contempt I felt for him, and I bade him return to Gwen, 
 whose heart his cruel conduct, and my unprincipled deceit, 
 I knew must have broken. Oh ! there's thankful I was 
 one morning when I saw in the docks the little Lark
 
 B Xoneli^ Sbore 27 
 
 ready to sail for Bristol and for dear Caer-Madoc. I 
 slipped on board, and the captain was kind to me and 
 brought me home, and you know all the rest, Dan; my 
 darling sister insane, my beloved mother dying of a broken 
 heart, and my father, so proud of his old family and his 
 good name, quite crushed under the disgrace I had brought 
 upon him. What are fifteen years of penance compared 
 with my dreadful sin? What is a life-long remorse to 
 weigh in the balance against all the misery I caused ? I 
 have devoted my life to serve Gwen, but I have not been 
 allowed to see the light of reason return to her eyes. I 
 have lived within six miles of you, but have never sought 
 to see you. I have a strange feeling that God will forgive 
 me, but, at the same time, I feel that my punishment is 
 not yet over — will never be over until Gwen's reason 
 returns. I will be gone to the spirit-land, but I will 
 know, oh ! I will know. When my prayers have been 
 answered, and when that time comes, Dan, you may hope, 
 at least, that I am at peace and forgiven." 
 
 "Lass!" said Doctor Dan, a humid tenderness in his 
 eyes and a strange huskiness in his voice. " 'Tis weakness 
 of body makes you so despondent. God is gracious to the 
 penitent ; and if I, a mortal man, can forgive, as I do, so 
 completely, think you He is less merciful than a manl" 
 
 Again there was a long silence. 
 
 "Where is he, that devil?" said Doctor Dan at last. 
 '* Never returned to Hafod y bryn, has he ? " 
 
 Matti shuddered. 
 
 •* No, no. Would I be here, do you think, if he was so 
 near 1 No, I could not breathe the same air with him. He 
 is somewhere up in Merioneth, he and his two sons ; his 
 wife was dead, you know, before that old time, although 
 he was so young. I don't want to hear or talk of him, my 
 time is too short." 
 
 Her voice had grown weaker, and her breath more 
 fluttering.
 
 28 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 " No more, then, 'merch i," said Doctor Dan, gently. 
 
 " Only this, Dan ; Jones, the lawyer^ sends our money 
 regularly by Stivin Storrom." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know," 
 
 " But he never comes to look after us, and I wanted to 
 see you once, to ask you to come here sometimes and see 
 poor Gwen and Miriel." 
 
 " I will," he said, holding her hand in his. " Be easy 
 about that. No harm shall come to them while I live. 
 You can trust me ? " 
 
 " Yes ! I am quite easy about them now." 
 
 " Where's the little girl?" he asked ; for Miriel was out 
 among the daffodils, milking her goats. 
 
 " If you call at the door, she will hear you ; " and stand- 
 ing on the cobble stones in the cwrt, he looked round for 
 some sign of her, and called loudly, " Miriel ! Miriel ! " 
 
 " Here I am," said the girl, coming into the cwrt, with 
 her milking pail resting on her hip, the two goats following 
 close behind her. 
 
 " Off you go. Kit and Brythen ! " and, laying down her 
 pail, she shoo-o-d them away with her apron. "Tea for 
 Nanti Matti ? Yes, indeed, I'm sure she wants it, and the 
 kettle is boiling," and " on hospitable thoughts intent " she 
 was soon clattering her tea-cups, and cutting thin slices of 
 bread and butter from the flat barley loaf. 
 
 It was a golden hour for Matti when Doctor Dan sat chat- 
 ting beside her, as in the long past, happy days, even bring- 
 ing her cup of tea, and setting it on the little round table 
 at her elbow. 
 
 " It is time to wake Nanti Gwen," said Miriel, passing 
 into the penisha, and leaving her visitor somewhat per- 
 turbed in mind ; for what should he say to Gwen 1 The 
 woman whom he had known as the beauty and the pride 
 of the countryside ! "What would he feel ? What would 
 she feel 1 And as she entered the room, guided by Miriel, 
 he rose embarrassed, and advanced a few steps to meet
 
 a Xonels Sbore 29 
 
 her ; but as the pale, marble face approached, the blue eyes 
 vacant and dreamy, he stood aside and silently lot her pass 
 on to her chair by the fire. 
 
 " Dear God ! Is it possible ? " he said below his breath. 
 " She was so lovely ! " And Matti, overhearing him, said, 
 "And now you see what I have made of her." 
 
 Miriel patted the cushion behind her head, and, placing a 
 footstool under her feet, shifted the tea-table more conveni- 
 ently near her, and brought from the cupboard a tiny wheaten 
 loaf, and cut from it a few thin slices, which she placed on 
 Gwen's plate, a few more she put on Doctor Dan's plate, 
 and then sat down with pride at the little tea-tray. 
 
 " You must not mind Gwen," said Matti. " She does 
 not notice you, she notices nothing. She is well in health, 
 and knows nothing of her sorrow — that is my only com- 
 fort." 
 
 Doctor Dan was more shocked than he allowed himself to 
 appear, and, moreover, he was dissatisfied at the evident 
 petting of Gwen to the utter neglect of her sister. 
 
 " Where is your Aunt Matti's footstool ? " he said rather 
 severely to Miriel, who was busy at the tea-table, " and 
 a cushion for her to sit upon, and another to rest her 
 head on 1 You will get me all those when she has finished 
 her tea." 
 
 *' Oh ! Nanti Matti, do you hear him ? He says just 
 what / say, and is sure to know best — that you ought to 
 have all the little comforts that you heap upon Nanti 
 Gwen — but she won't," she said, spreading out both her 
 palms before the doctor. " Nothing but barley bread — 
 no bacon for dinner, only cawl — no footstool, no cushion ; 
 nothing but cruelty and hardness for herself — and all the 
 love and kindness for me and Nanti Gwen," and rising 
 from the tea-table she flung her arms round the neck of 
 the convicted Matti, saying, " Oh ! you know. You know 
 I am telling the truth. You are a hard, cruel woman to 
 yourself. I don't know why — but you are ! "
 
 30 ®n tbe Minas of tbe 1lain^ 
 
 " Nonsense, 'merch i ! Go and drink your tea, and pour 
 out a fresh cup for Gwen." 
 
 When Doctor Dan rose to go, he held Matti's hands with 
 a still graver look than when he entered. 
 
 " I understand what you have been doing, Matti. You 
 have worn yourself out in the prime of life; you have 
 ruined the splendid health which God gave you ; you have 
 punished yourself with unrelenting sternness. But whether 
 you have done right or not, I will not dare to judge. 
 Good-bye ! I hear Deio and Samson outside. I will 
 come again to-morrow afternoon, and bring you a 
 restorative." 
 
 Matti was exhausted, and could only answer, " Good-bye, 
 Dan, and God bless you ! " 
 
 " Promise me to go to bed at once," said the doctor, as 
 he left the house. And she did, and when the next day 
 dawned, and Miriel woke with a sudden fright, as if some- 
 one had called her, she found Nanti Matti lying white 
 and still beside her ; more white and more still even than 
 Gwen.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 AT REST AT LAST 
 
 On the next afternoon Doctor Dan came again, and the 
 creaking of his gig as he alighted apprised Miriel of his 
 arrival. She came running out of the little gate to meet 
 him with a sorrow-stricken face. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " said the doctor, sternly, with one 
 foot on the gig step. 
 
 *' Nanti Matti is dead," said the girl, bursting into a gust 
 of tears, with her apron to her eyes. 
 
 Deio gave vent to something between a grunt and a 
 groan and looked straight out to sea, carefully avoiding 
 his master's eyes, who turned without a word and followed 
 Miriel into the house. 
 
 In the chimney corner Gwen was sitting, dainty and 
 fresh, busily spinning at her phantom wheel. If the room 
 had been sad and depressing the day before, to-day it was 
 doubly so. The chairs, the hearth, 1>he darkened window, 
 everything seemed to call for the loving being who had so 
 long filled the place with brightness and tenderness for 
 those around her. 
 
 "What will I do? What will I do?" said the lonely 
 girl, leaning her arms upon the white-washed walla, and 
 hiding her face on them. " Oh ! Nanti, Nanti, Nanti ! " 
 
 " Don't cry," said the doctor in a hard voice. " Tell me 
 how it was ; " and Miriel between her sobs tried to tell her 
 story. 
 
 " She went to bed after you were gone, and then I put 
 
 31
 
 32 ®n tbe Min^s of tbc mint> 
 
 Nanti Gwen to bed too, and shaded the window and folded 
 away the blue silk quilt, just as she had taught me to do, 
 and then she kissed me and said, ' Good-night, dear heart, 
 twill be a fine day to-morrow, and she can gather daffodils.' 
 And I have ! " added Miriel, with a fresh burst of tears. 
 " Then T went to sleep, and never awoke until somebody 
 called me in the morning, and there she was, lying quite 
 still at my side. I kissed her cheek, and it was so 
 cold ! " 
 
 " Who called you ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Miriel, in a matter-of-fact voice. 
 " Nanti Matti perhaps, or mother, or some other kind 
 spirit." 
 
 " Umph ! " said the doctor, rising. *' Where is she 1 " 
 
 Miriel opened the door of the bedroom, and there in 
 the carved fourpost bed, one of the relics of Tygwyn, 
 Mattie Lloyd lay cold and white, a smile as of placid con- 
 tent on her lips. 
 
 The luxuriant hair streaked with grey lay in thick 
 coils on the pillow, one hand lay across her chest, in it 
 a bunch of faded roses tied with an equally faded blue 
 ribbon. 
 
 At her feet, and on every available space, were masses 
 of daffodils, or, rather, the single pale Lent lilies which 
 grew so abundantly over the slope in the early spring. 
 Doctor Dan stood looking down with grave eyes and hard- 
 pressed lips. 
 
 " Who put those faded flowers in her hand ? " he asked. 
 
 " She did herself," said Miriel. " I found her just like 
 that. She must have got out of bed to fetch them, for I 
 found the drawer open. She often did get up in the night, 
 and went out on the hillside or down on the shore." 
 
 Doctor Dan said nothing, but stooped to look at a slip of 
 paper pinned on the blue ribbon. " Go and see if your 
 Nanti Gwen wants anything," he said, closing the door 
 gently as the girl obeyed him, and in a little while he
 
 at IRest at Xast 33 
 
 joined her in the penisha. " Tell me more, child," he said, 
 looking down into the glowing culm fire. 
 
 "There is nothing more to tell," said Miriel. "Only 
 Mali Storrom took the flowers away, and put a Bible in her 
 hand, and screwed her hair tight up under her cap, but I 
 took it off and put the flowers back again. Must I alter 
 her?" 
 
 " Don't touch her," said the doctor. " Let her be buried 
 like that." 
 
 At this moment Stivin Storrom and Mali came in, 
 "Thunder and Lightning " as Miriel called them when she 
 was in a more playful mood than to-day. Stivin's burly 
 form filled up the doorway as he entered. A quantity of 
 rusty red hair formed quite a protecting headgear of itself ; 
 indeed, he seldom wore any other. His face was as red as 
 his hair, and his voice no words can describe ; hoarse and 
 rough to the last degree, loud as if he were shouting in one 
 of the storms from which he took his name. As soon as 
 the storm wind began to raise the waters of the bay into 
 angry waves, Stivin Storrom was in his element, on the 
 alert to save life or to haul in the wreckages which so often 
 strewed the edges of the bay. Never a boat went out to a 
 ship in distress but Stivin Storrom was in her. Never a 
 night so dark nor a wind so fierce that Stivin was not 
 ready to turn out of bed and rush into the very eye of the 
 storm ; like the stormy petrel, he seemed at home in the 
 fury of the elements, and the roar of his voice even the 
 strong north wind could not drown. 
 
 Mali, on the contrary, was pale and thin, keen-witted 
 and sharp-tongued, devoted to her Mistresses Matti and 
 Gwen, whom she had served in the old days at Tygwyn, 
 having married from there and settled with Stivin Storrom 
 in their tiny hut leaning on the side of Doloer, and great 
 had been her delight when the " dear ladiss " took refuge 
 in the empty house beside her. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me Matti Lloyd was ill ?" said Doctor 
 

 
 34 ©n tbe Mings of tbe 'KIltn& 
 
 Dan, looking sternly at the shock-headed man. " Every 
 week you came to Tregarreg to fetch their money, and 
 neither you nor Jones, the lawyer, ever breathed a word 
 of her illness." 
 
 " She wouldn't let me," rumbled Stivin, in the depths of 
 his chest. It was an attempt to soften his voice in the 
 presence of death. He was never known to have made 
 such an attempt before. " She wouldn't let me. * Never 
 you tell, Stivin, anyone at Tregarreg that I am ill,' she 
 used to say. ' What ! not the doctor ? ' says I, because 
 I knew how it had been between you and her long ago. 
 ' No, not even the doctor,' she was saying, ' nor anybody ' ; 
 and, of course, I had to obey the mistress." 
 
 "No 'of course' in it at all," said Mali, shortly and 
 sharply, " and if thee hadn't been a stupid dunderhead 
 thee'd have told the doctor long ago." 
 
 " Why didn't thee take a journey to Tregarreg and tell 
 him thyself, then ? " roared Stivin, giving up the attempt 
 to modulate his tones. 
 
 " Highsht — sh — sh — sh ! " said Mali, laying hold of his 
 shoulders and unceremoniously pushing him out into the 
 sunshine. He made no resistance, for the courage and the 
 voice which defied the fiercest storms were subdued in the 
 presence of the sharp -tongued Mali. 
 
 When they had gone the doctor looked thoughtfully at 
 the girl who, having dried her eyes, was patting Gwen's 
 cushions and otherwise attending to her comforts. 
 
 What a life lies before this child, he thought. What a 
 saddening, depressing atmosphere is around her. Poor 
 thing ! Poor tiling ! " 'Tis Friday to-day, the funeral 
 will be on Monday," he said aloud. " Have you any 
 black clothes to wear 1 " 
 
 " No," said Miriel, " I won't go to the funeral. I will 
 stay with Nanti Gwen. I cannot leave her. Nanti Matti 
 would like me to stay." 
 
 " Then, Monday, two o'clock, in Glanberi churchyard. I
 
 Ht IRest at Xast 35 
 
 will see to it all; I and Mali Storrom. See that she is 
 buried just as she is, her hair like that, and the roses in 
 her hand. Do you hear, child ? " for Miriel's apron was 
 over her face again. 
 
 " Yes," she whispered. Somehow she did not mind the 
 doctor's hard, dry voice. 
 
 " I will come on Monday," he said, turning back at the 
 door ; " but will not return here from the churchyard. 
 Next week I will come and see you." 
 
 It was not without great reluctance that Mali Storrom 
 conceded the point of the Bible and cap when placing 
 Matti Lloyd in her coffin. " Dir anw'l ! 'Tis a shame," 
 she said. " My sweet mistress to be buried like a heathen 
 with her hair all flying about and a bunch of old flowers in 
 her hand ! " The blue ribbon that tied them, and the 
 scrap of paper pinned to them, especially shocked her, 
 though, perhaps, had she been able to read the few words 
 that the latter bore, in faded brown writing, she would 
 have been less indignant, for they would have recalled to 
 her the happy days at Tygwyn, when she and Stivin, then 
 young and romantic, had smiled sympathetically when Dan 
 Griffiths and her young mistress had passed them in the 
 gloaming, too intent upon their lovers' talk to notice the 
 other pair of lovers hiding in the brake. It would have 
 recalled to her the loving messages she had carried, and the 
 stolen interviews which she had connived at in the old time 
 past, but she could not read, so Miriel alone knew what 
 those faded words expressed — " For Matti f'anwylid ! from 
 her true lover, Dan Griffiths." 
 
 Yes, when the funeral had left the house, the muflled 
 tread of the bearers and the rumble of the carts and gigs 
 had died away, she had sat by the fire, Nanti Gwen beside 
 her crooning and spinning as usual, and had thought and 
 wondered and understood, for she was not so much a child 
 as she appeared, and the sorrowful circumstances surround- 
 ing her young life had given a somewhat thoughtful colour-
 
 36 ®n tbe Mfnas of tbe JlCXirvb 
 
 ing to her mind, though they had been quite unable to 
 quench her buoyant spirits. Chief of all, the impulse and 
 sentiment which formed and moulded her life was the 
 innate self-sacrifice, which she had inherited or learnt un- 
 consciously from the being who had fiJled the place of 
 mother to her. Sitting there in her favourite attitude, 
 nursing her chin in her palm and gazing into the turf fire, 
 a deep wave of pity surged through her heart as she realised 
 that Doctor Dan had lov^d so much, and yet, in her 
 memory, had never been near the object of his love until 
 the hand of deatli was already upon her. 
 
 "Nanti Matti anw'l ! " she said aloud. " What was the 
 meaning of it t But you never told me, dear, so I will not 
 ask ; but I will do everything you would like me to do, if 
 you were here ; " and, rising, she set her face firmly to 
 enter the room which for the last few days she had avoided 
 as far as possible, with the natural shrinking of youth from 
 the sight of death and decay. There was the empty bed ; 
 there were the daffodils in golden profusion, the dimmed 
 light from the curtained window and the sickly atmosphere 
 which so soon surrounds the dead. She drew up the blind 
 and opened the window, and standing at the bottom of the 
 bed looked firmly at its empty flatness. 
 
 " Nanti Matti anwyl ! " she said, " your place is not here 
 any longer, nor in the kitchen nor in the garden will I ever 
 see you ; but here ! " and pressing her hands on her bosom 
 she repeated — '* It is here you will be kept warm for ever. 
 Speak to me if you can, for I will always be listening," and 
 she felt no longer so keen a sense of separation as she 
 cleared away the daffodils and rearranged the room, but a 
 sense of close communion with the loving being who had 
 shielded her chOdhood and wrapped her life in tenderness 
 until she had slipped into the " Beyond," which to Miriel 
 was never far away. 
 
 Matti Lloyd's had been a "large funeral," an honour 
 much appreciated it Wales ; for although the sisters had
 
 Ht IRest at Xast 37 
 
 for years been buried in voluntary seclusion and had long 
 been "by the world forgot," the news of her death had 
 recalled to many minds her sad history and the honoured 
 position which the old Tygwyn family had held in the 
 district, so that cars and gigs and carts in great numbers 
 had gathered on the road above the moor, Doctor Dan's 
 alone making its way over the green turf to the garden 
 gate, where all the company who came on foot had 
 collected. 
 
 In a country neighbourhood there are no such things as 
 private affairs, for in the sparsity of subjects of interest, 
 every event, even to the minutest detail, is chronicled, 
 so that there was not one of that sombre throng who was 
 not fully aware of the doctor's connection with the dead 
 woman's past ; but not the movement of a muscle, nor a 
 sign of perturbation, enlightened them concerning his in- 
 ward feelings as he passed into the house and came out 
 again into the morning sunshine, the long, black hat-band 
 his only sign of mourning. 
 
 At the graveside he stood apparently unmoved, and 
 Deio, waiting for him at the lych gate, with Samson 
 impatiently pawing his disapprobation, had turned back 
 the apron of the gig without a word, his master stepping 
 in and driving off in silence. 
 
 They had driven quite a mile before Deio made his first 
 remark. 
 
 " Well, she's gone, pwr thing, and a good thing, master ! 
 She's been fifteen years dying, whatever ! " 
 
 The doctor whipped up his horse; Samson leaped for- 
 ward resenting the unwonted lash, and perhaps it was the 
 curbing of his temper that engaged Doctor Dan's attention 
 so much as to prevent his answering Deio's remark. 
 
 And so Matti Lloyd passes off the stage of our tale, 
 and if we have not entered very minutely into the details 
 of her past life, her sin and her sorrow, it is of no con- 
 sequence, for she has gone with all her weight of trouble,
 
 38 ®n tbe WiinQS of tbe min^ 
 
 her bitter shame and penitence, to the wider mercy of that 
 higher life, where we can safely leave her. 
 
 The first days of loneliness pressed heavily on Miriel's 
 spirits. At every hour and every turn in her simple 
 household duties, she felt keenly the absence of the friend 
 who had hitherto filled and rounded her young life; but a 
 healthy mind and a vigorous frame soon helped her to 
 throw ofi" the abiding sense of depression and loss. The 
 chief spring of her happiness was love, the impulse to 
 help, to shelter; and in her peculiar surroundings she 
 found sufficient scope for the exercise of these principles. 
 When in a few days the small sum of money left in the 
 corner of the old bureau had come to an end, worldly and 
 material questions arose in her mind, and she looked 
 blankly round for an answer to their pressing pertinence. 
 
 Mali Storrom was called in for consultation. " What 
 will I do, Mali fach, there is no more money 1 None in 
 the house and only one loaf in the cupboard." 
 
 " 'Merch fach i ! " said Mali, " what will you do ? Stop 
 you ! I will bring you a barley loaf to-morrow when I 
 bake ; but that will not do for Gwen." 
 
 "No, no; and a chicken for her I must have. Oh, 
 what will I do ? " and she looked more puzzled and dis- 
 tressed than Mali had ever seen her before. 
 
 " I'll teU you what we'll do," said the latter, suddenly 
 brightening, " we'll send Stivin to Jones, the lawyer's, as if 
 nothing had happened. Perhaps he'll hand him the money 
 without noticing that Matti is dead ! " 
 
 "That's nonsense," said Miriel. "Of course he will 
 notice that Nanti Matti is dead, because wasn't he here 
 at the funeral? It isn't much I would want certainly, 
 but a little I must have," and she sighed as, for the first 
 time in her hfe, the necessity for money made itself felt. 
 
 "Well there's nothing else to be done," said Mali. 
 " And I'll try my plan, whatever. Be bound he'll pay the 
 money without saying a word."
 
 Ht IRest at Xast 39 
 
 ''Well, yes," said Miriel, with a pucker between her 
 eyes. " Perhaps, as you say, he will give me the money 
 that he used to send to dear Nanti Matti." 
 
 And next day, when Stivin returned from the market 
 he entered the house as usual, and deposited with an air of 
 great importance the small weekly sum which he had been 
 accustomed to bring to Matti. 
 
 "There now!" said Miriel. "Well, indeed! I was 
 afraid perhaps there would be no more money, but Mali is 
 very clever." 
 
 "Oh ! she's cute enough," said her husband, " and I did 
 just as she told me — went straight into the oflBce and 
 didn't say nothing about Matti's death, and he said just 
 the same as usual, 'You've come for the ladiss' money,' 
 and he handed the little bag to me, and I put it in my 
 pocket, and here it is." 
 
 " Well done, Stivin ! What would I do without you and 
 Mali, indeed ? " 
 
 "Well ! You'd have to go to market yourself ; and 'tis 
 about time you should begin to go there, I think. You're 
 getting a fine slip of a girl," and he blustered out like 
 a strong gust of wind, blowing and snorting like a porpoise, 
 until even Gwen turned her head a little from her spinning, 
 and looked after him. 
 
 So ways and means no longer disconcerted Miriel, but 
 she was not quite satisfied with the ease with which Stivin 
 had overcome her difficulties, and had some scruples about 
 spending the money, fearing lest she ought first to remind 
 the shrewd lawyer that Nanti Matti was dead. One 
 day early in the following week, as she worked in the 
 afternoon sun in the little sheltered garden, where the air 
 was full of the scent of the lilac, and the humming of the 
 bees, a click of the garden gate startled her, for on the soft 
 turf she had not heard the wheels of Doctor Dan's gig as he 
 came down the green slope. She flung away her tools, and ran 
 to the cwrt to meet him, holding up an admonishing finger.
 
 40 ©n tbe Ximincis of tbe Wiin^ 
 
 " Hush-sh-sh-sh ! " washer first greeting, "NantiGwen 
 is asleep ; we must talk low and soft. There's glad I 
 am to see you, because indeed I am feeling it strange to be 
 here by myself, and many things are coming into my mind, 
 and sometimes I don't know what will I do ; and now here 
 you are and I can talk about things," and she pushed the 
 rush chair towards him. 
 
 " What is it, child t " said the doctor, gravely, for the 
 sight of that empty house oppressed him ; the rough stone 
 floors, the white-washed walls, the thick oak rafters, the 
 solemn clock in the corner, whose aggressive ticking 
 seemed to thrust upon the humanity surrounding it, the 
 continual impression of time's fleetness. " What things 
 are entering your mind, child ? " he asked again, and with a 
 little less hardness in his voice, as he noted the slender 
 childish figure, the clear creamy face with its grey eyes and 
 crown of golden hair. 
 
 " Poor child ! poor child ! " was running through his 
 mind. " What a life of misery will be hers ! " but the tone 
 of Miriel's voice was not suggestive of misery, as she 
 laid before him the plans and resources so all important to 
 her. Once or twice he stooped to stir the embers, to hide 
 the smile of amusement which her words brought to his 
 lips. 
 
 "Well, first you see, I must take Nanti Matti's place 
 now, and do exactly what she would like me to do." 
 
 " Of course," said the doctor 
 
 ** And there are a great many cares belonging to a house. 
 There's Nanti Gwen, and the fowls, and the garden 
 wanting to be set, and the daffodils all coming up in 
 the leek bed where they oughtn't to be ! " 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt, all very important ! " and he 
 smiled. 
 
 Miriel opened her grey eyes a little, astonished that the 
 hard face could relax. 
 
 " But I think you are equal to the task of managing
 
 at IRest at Xast 41 
 
 this — " he was on the point of saying " this establish- 
 ment," but checked himself with a little fear lest the girl 
 might feel the sarcasm of the word. 
 
 Doctor Dan had no experience of "children" or their 
 ways, and, moreover, had grown to feel a little resentful 
 towards anything connected with the joys of home life, 
 from which he felt himself completely cut off. 
 
 As he drove down the slope to Doloer that afternoon, it 
 was a feeling of duty alone which led him to the house. It 
 had been Matti's home, and within its white-washed walls 
 were two beings whom she had loved and left to his tender 
 mercy. For Gwen he felt the pitying interest of an old 
 friendship, but the girl — the child — as he called her, was a 
 troublesome encumbrance of which he would fain have been 
 rid, did not his promise to Matti forbid it. What should 
 he do with these two helpless beings ? He feared that his 
 self-imposed charge of them would entail a departure from 
 the old groove into which his bachelor life had fallen, and 
 the thought was distasteful to him. But though these 
 were his inmost feelings, there was no hesitation in his 
 mind as to tlie duty that lay before him. With regard to 
 Gwen, his inclination ran in line with his duty, for had not 
 both she and he been stricken by the same blowl And 
 Matti's words, " when Gwen's reason returns, then you 
 may feel I am happy and forgiven," returned to his mind 
 with so much force that he determined to leave no stone 
 unturned in the path of her restoration to the light of 
 reason. It was not therefore a sympathetic or indulgent 
 ear that he turned to Miriel's small troubles, and as she 
 saw him look a little impatient, she hesitated, until Doctor 
 Dan continued the subject. 
 
 " You will want money," he said, " but Mr Jones will 
 continue to give you the usual weekly sum. Does she 
 know how to manage money a little 1 " 
 
 This last question, asked in the third person, was intended 
 as a little concession to the foolishly spoiling manner used
 
 42 ®n tbe Wiims ot tbe TldinO 
 
 in speaking to children, and Miriel resented it at once 
 From her aunt it came naturally, and had the charm of 
 tenderness, but from Doctor Dan ! It chafed and hurt 
 her. 
 
 " Stivin Storrom has brought me the money as usual," 
 she said, drawing herself up a little. "It is in Nanti 
 Matti's drawer, and I will spend it as she did, and that 
 will be sure to be right," and a little flush of offended pride 
 coloured the generally pn.le face, adding to it the only 
 charm that was wanting. 
 
 "True, 'merch i!" said the doctor, softening a little. 
 " I have no doubt you will be all right. When you are 
 puzzled about anything you can ask ine. I will come often 
 to see you, as I promised your Aunt Matti. But Gwen ! 
 when will she come in?" 
 
 "Now," said Miriel, "it is time ;" and shaking up the 
 silk pillow, and placing the footstool in readiness, she 
 passed in through the heavy oak doorway. 
 
 "A wise little thing, no doubt," thought Doctor Dan. 
 " I hope she won't give me much trouble. I will do my 
 best for her whatever," and as Miriel returned, the tall, 
 pale woman leaning heavily on her arm, he felt a wave 
 of pity sweep over him for the elder woman, whom he 
 remembered in the hey-day of youth and happiness. He 
 rose in a kind of respectful attitude before such soitow, the 
 wreck of so fair a ship that had begun its voyage in the 
 sunshine and calm, and had so soon been stranded upon the 
 rocks of adversity. She seemed to take no notice of him, 
 but arranged herself silently in her chair, placing her 
 prettily-shod feet on the footstool which Miriel pushed 
 towards her. 
 
 " A fine day, Gwen ! " and the beautiful eyes glanced at 
 him for a moment. 
 
 " Yes ! " she answered in a far-away tone, and, leaning 
 forward, she began to spin, and draw towards her the in- 
 visible thread which occupied her attention so continually.
 
 Ht IRest at %ast 43 
 
 " Strange ! " said the doctor, turning towards Miriel. 
 "Is she always thus?" 
 
 "Yes, always. Spinning when the sun is shining; 
 spinning when the rain is falling; and spinning when 
 the storms are roaring round the house." 
 
 " Suppose we move her work away ? " he said, placing 
 his hand upon the spot where the phantom wheel would 
 stand. But he was not prepared for the effect wliich his 
 action had upon Gwen. She became flurried and excited ; 
 the tears rose to her eyes and she wrung her hands in 
 evident distress. 
 
 " Oh, don't ! " said Miriel. " Tis so seldom the tears are 
 in her eyes." 
 
 " But I don't think it will hurt her," said the doctor. 
 " Anything to move that stony calm ! " 
 
 Gwen began to spin again, but rose excitedly from her 
 chair, Doctor Dan trying in vain to soothe her. 
 
 " Stay ! " said Miriel, approaching the little window and 
 shading her eyes with her hand. " Why, here's the 
 Uawk I " she said, " sailing into the bay, and here's 
 Silvan Vaughan coming up the sands ! " The effect was 
 instantaneous. Gwen smiled and sat down, adjusted the 
 braids of her hair, smoothed her apron, and began to spin 
 again with a happy look of content. 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" said Doctor Dan, grasp- 
 ing the girl's shoulder almost roughly. 
 
 " I don't know," said Miriel, " but it always soothes her. 
 Nanti Matti always said it, although I think she hated 
 Silvan Vaughan — whoever he was. She used to turn 
 white, whatever, white to the very lips ; but she had to 
 say it sometimes before Nanti Gwen would grow calm." 
 
 "Your Nanti Matti would wish you to forget that name, 
 child." 
 
 " If it does Nanti Gwen good ? " 
 
 The doctor's face took upon it the hard look which had 
 somewhat softened during the last quarter of an hour.
 
 44 ©n tbe mime of tbe "MiW^ 
 
 " Well, no ! " he said slowly. " If it does her good, say it 
 when you please," and he rose and looked for his hat. 
 
 " Oh, stop ! Stop and have tea. See ! the kettle is 
 boiling, and I have a fresh wheaten loaf made. 'Tis my 
 first baking," she said, holding the crisp loaf towards him; 
 " but 'tis very good, I think." 
 
 "No doubt," said the doctor; "but I have no time to 
 stop. Good-bye ! Be a good girl and take care of your 
 aunt," and he left the house and rejoined the patient Deio, 
 feeling that he had oveicome the first step in a disagree- 
 able duty.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PINCUSHIONS 
 
 On the market-day following his visit to Doloer, Doctor 
 Dan passed through the crowded street of Tregarreg; 
 where pigs and drovers ran foul of each other, and 
 country farmers much impeded his progress by taking 
 the opportunity of consulting him upon their ailments. 
 
 " 'Tis my back, you see, is shockin' bad this month 
 past," said Davy Jones, " and I was thinking, ser — " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! I'll be driving by your house to-morrow, 
 and I'll call in." And Davy would turn to his pigs 
 feeling already better, while the doctor would manage to 
 get a little further on his way. 
 
 At last he reached the narrow passage that led to the 
 Pwrhouse, and made his way to one of the most dilapidated 
 houses, only to find the door closed and the house empty. 
 
 " They are gone to the market, ser," said a red-haired 
 woman who was making culm balls on her doorstep. 
 
 "Why, of course," said the doctor; "I forgot — come 
 and see you to-morrow, Biddy, I can't stop now," and oflf 
 again to the main street, where, at the corner of the 
 market - place, he found Peggi Doll, the pincushion- 
 maker. 
 
 It was in the darkest and most dismal of the Pwrhouse 
 tenements that Peggi Doll lived with her husband, King 
 Dai. 
 
 Nobody knew how Dai Morgan had gained his royal 
 title, and nobody thought about it, for many years had 
 
 45
 
 46 ®n tbe Minos ot tbe Mint) 
 
 elapsed since, as a young man, he had returned to Tre- 
 garreg with a comrade from the war in which they had 
 fought and both been wounded. His comrade had called 
 him King Dai, and the name had stuck to him, why or 
 wherefore nobody knew, and nobody cared, for His 
 Majesty was silent and reserved, and, with his shiUing a 
 day to fall back upon, was independent of his neighbours, 
 and even rich for the Pwrhouse. 
 
 He had lived alone fc several years before he married 
 Peggi Doll, the most ill-favoured, ill-tempered woman in 
 the town. After her marriage she had become completely 
 crippled by rheumatism, which by no means improved her 
 temper. She wreaked her irritability upon her long- 
 suffering husband, and made him a peg on which to hang 
 the blame of every mischance that fell to her lot. She had 
 grown yearly more crooked and more crabbed, and King 
 Dai more stolid and silent. His tall form, the broad 
 shoulders bending a little, seemed made for the curious 
 burden which they so often bore, his white face and 
 marble features showing no sign of any varying emotion. 
 
 As the years passed on it was evident that the wound 
 of long ago had sapped his vital energy, and that par 
 alysis was gradually turning that pale, silent figure into 
 stone. He wove his straw mats incessantly in the 
 chimney corner, and, when spoken to, would gaze un 
 consciously at the speaker for some time before he 
 answered, while his wife, in the opposite corner of the 
 hearth, crouched between the brilliant rags from which 
 she made pincushions to sell in the market, and, when 
 our story opens, Peggi Doll had become a little 
 shrivelled cripple, who seemed to live only for invec- 
 tive and spleen. She walked on all fours, her veined 
 and knotted hands clutching a little square stool of 
 black oak, her inseparable companion ; for on this she 
 sat in her own chimney corner, or by its help crawled 
 across the floor, using it as a kind of clog for her hands,
 
 pincusbions 47 
 
 for, as the cripple used only the toes of her clutched-up 
 feet in her peculiar progress, her hands took the place of 
 an animal's forefeet. 
 
 As she sat upon her stool, surrounded by bits of cloth of 
 every colour and hue, she formed a picture so curious and 
 fantastic, that to see her once was never to forget her. 
 
 Across her shoulders she wore a square of scarlet flannel, 
 and at the back of her head a beaver hat of the ordinary 
 chimney-pot shape worn by men, its narrow brim quite 
 eclipsed by the voluminous frills of her cap. 
 
 Sitting in the comer surrounded by her rags, as she bent 
 over her gaudy bits of stuff, her chin resting upon her chest, 
 it was evident that no other position was possible to 
 her. Her black, beady eyes gleamed fiercely up in their 
 endeavour to gain a straight view of their antagonist, for 
 everyone was looked upon as a foe by Peggi Doll. 
 
 Certainly she bore no goodwill to any living creature, 
 and in that little cramped bosom were locked the secrets 
 of many lives, secrets which she preserved carefully until 
 upon some provocation, fancied or real, she hurled them 
 forth, and covered her adversary with confusion and 
 discomfiture. 
 
 How she gained her knowledge was an unsolved 
 mystery, but there were few dark passages in the lives 
 of the Tregarreg people or their ancestors which were not 
 known to her, consequently she was generally feared and 
 avoided. 
 
 On market-days she had for many years occupied the 
 same corner in the market-place, where she was an object 
 of curiosity as well as terror to the street children, and 
 one of compassion to their elders. 
 
 Regularly every Friday she was hoisted up to her 
 husband's broad shoulders ; here in her usual cramped 
 position she was safe, for her little claw -like hands 
 clutched tightly at his coat collar, while under her 
 crooked knees King Dai passed his thick, strong walking-
 
 48 ®n tbe WiinQS of tbe 'Catn^ 
 
 stick, and, with his elbows hooked round it, he thus 
 supported the full weight of her body. 
 
 In his right hand he carried her little square stool, while 
 from his left, hung by their suspending tapes, a shower of 
 brilliant pincushions, the product of her needle during the 
 week ; hearts and crescents, triangles and squares, scarlet, 
 yeUow, blue and green. These she sold at a penny a piece 
 in the market-place, where, upon her arrival, she and her 
 husband were invariably greeted with the laughter and 
 jeers of the children, attentions which King Dai took no 
 more notice of than a man of stone would have done, but 
 which Peggi Doll bore in mind and repaid as the oppor- 
 tunity offered. 
 
 When little Ann Jonss, who had laughed and jeered, and 
 even tweaked at her shoes as she was borne to her corner, 
 afterwards appi'oached her demurely, and, timidly holding 
 her penny at arm's length, asked for a pincushion, Peggi 
 Doll would take the penny meekly enough, but in handing 
 the pincushion would clutch at the little hand, and ad- 
 minister a sound cuff" to the culprit, who would run away 
 with a scream, half of fear and half of fun. Indeed, the 
 excitement was relished by the children, and caused Peggi 
 Doll to drive a brisk trade in pincushions. 
 
 King Dai stood all day in another corner of the market- 
 place after he had deposited his little crooked wife on the 
 opposite side of the square, a few straw mats which he had 
 made for sale hanging from his neck and arms. 
 
 Everyone knew their price, and they were generally 
 bought up before the market was over, though King Dai 
 never spoke or offered his wares for sale, but stood like a 
 marble statue, apparently caring little whether he disposed 
 of them or not. 
 
 When evening came he approached his wife again, and 
 once more hoisting her on his shoulders, carried her back 
 to their dismal abode in the Pwrhouse lane, and as they 
 trudged through the busy street, even those to whom they
 
 Ipincusbtons 49 
 
 were familiar objects looked after them with a amile of 
 amusement or pity. 
 
 When Doctor Dan made his way to the market-place, 
 Peggi Doll's figure, crouched in the corner and surrounded 
 by her brilliant wares, was the first object to greet his eye, 
 for the afternoon sun shone full upon her and picked out 
 her scarlet mantle of flannel. 
 
 " Hast a pincushion for me, Peggi Doll ? A pretty one 
 now ; this blue satin one with its silver pins will do ! " 
 
 " Not a heart-shaped one this time, I suppose ? " said 
 Peggi, her keen black eyes peering up at him as well as her 
 bent neck permitted. 
 
 " Oh ! any shape. But what dost mean ? I never 
 bought a pincushion before of thee 1 " 
 
 " No ? " croaked Peggi. " I thought thee did, sixteen 
 years ago. Happen this will bring better luck," and she 
 laughed a shrill, rasping laugh peculiarly her own. 
 
 " Ah, well ! " said Doctor Dan, unmoved, " thee hast a 
 good memory. Give me another, that yellow and green ; 
 I may as well give the child one too." 
 
 " Oh ! there's a child in the business," thought Peggi, 
 though she made no answer, further than to hand him the 
 pincushions. 
 
 " I see Dai has nearly sold all his mats," he said pleas- 
 antly. " I'll call in to see you both to-morrow," 
 
 " As you please," said Peggi. 
 
 As he neared Hendyrafon, Doctor Dan fell into a brown 
 study. •' The little witch is right," he thought ; " I re- 
 member the pincushion I bought for Matti." 
 
 He remembered too how she had hung it to her waist- 
 band, and said, with a mischievous smile, " Will I hurt you, 
 Dan, when I stick my pins in it ? as the witches say they 
 do." Yes, he remembered it all, but there was no sign of 
 it in his face or in his voice as he roused Betti Luke with 
 a call for his dinner. 
 
 She was his only house servant, and as she had been at 
 
 D
 
 50 ®n tbe mtnas of tbe Mint) 
 
 Hendyrafon from his earliest childhood, it never entered 
 his mind that it would be possible to remove her, although 
 she was sometimes wilful and interfering. Her curiosity 
 knew no bounds, and she considered a secret withheld from 
 her, or a drawer or cupboard locked, a mortal affront ; but 
 her real affection for " the young master," which shone 
 through even her most troublesome ways, her unselfishness 
 and constant care of him and his household ; all had en- 
 deared her to the man, who, having for many years with- 
 drawn himself from the companionship of his old friends, 
 had neither inclination nor opportunity for making new. 
 So, when she brought in his simple dinner, he entertained 
 her and himself with an account of Peggi Doll's eccentric 
 ways. 
 
 " Oh, mishteer bach," she said, " don't you stop to talk 
 to her, or she'll say something to make you miserable ; I 
 always take a good round to avoid her, or she'll ask me 
 was it my grandfather or my great uncle was hanged for 
 sheep-stealing ? and once she asked me, ' had I any pieces 
 of the cotton gown my mother was married in ? ' So 
 take my advice, 'machgeni, and keep on the other side of 
 the street." 
 
 Her master laughed, but agreed that Peggi Doll's nature 
 had certainly more vinegar than honey in its composition, 
 and he exhibited the two pincushions which he had bought 
 of her. 
 
 " And yet," he said thoughtfully, " there must be some 
 appreciation of the beautiful in her or she could not make 
 these pretty things. 'Tis one for poor Gwen Lloyd," he 
 said, " and one for the child." 
 
 " How old is the child ?" asked Betti. 
 
 " Well," said the doctor, " she's really eighteen, I'm 
 always forgetting." 
 
 " Bring her in some day, mishteer ; I would like to see 
 her, poor thing ! " 
 
 "Well, perhaps," he said, "if she'll come; but I fancy
 
 BMncusbions 5 1 
 
 she has a will of her own, like you," and, leaving Betti 
 chuckling, he went out to his gig which Deio had just 
 brought out. 
 
 As we have said before, there was but little audible 
 communion between Deio and his master, so they had 
 reached the top of the moor which sloped down to Doloer, 
 before they had spoken more than a word or two, on the 
 badness of the roads and on Samson's "freshness." As 
 they reached the top of the slope, a clear young voice came 
 up on the sea wind, and, looking down, they saw it was 
 Miriel roaming up the side of the moor in search of her 
 goats, for it was milking time. 
 
 She carried her milking-pail under her arm, and woke 
 the echoes with her song. 
 
 " Ts, ts ! " said Deio, with a backward jerk of his head ; 
 " there's soon children forget ! and old people too, they 
 say ! 'tis middle-aged people who are feeling the most ! " 
 after which philosophical remark he relapsed into his usual 
 silence. But Deio's taciturnity did not deceive Doctor 
 Dan ; he knew that behind that weather-beaten face, and 
 under that commonplace exterior, dwelt as warm a heart 
 and as keen a mind as ever lived in a raw, untaught Celt, 
 and that where he loved, as he did his master, he was 
 more sensitive and sympathetic than many a man of refine- 
 ment and education. True, his ignorance often led him 
 to false or mistaken deductions, but not a shade of feeling 
 affected his master that he was not quick to share and 
 reciprocate. 
 
 " 'Tis Gwen will be the heaviest care to you," he said, 
 as they drew up at the little garden gate ; " the girl is 
 growing up and she will marry, but poor Gwen will always 
 be the same." 
 
 " We don't know that," said the doctor, stopping with 
 one foot on the step of his gig. " We are as ignorant of 
 the future as Samson, or those goats; I am not without 
 hope that she will recover."
 
 52 ©n tbe TKHtnos of tbe MinD 
 
 Deio looked after his master as he entered the cwrt, and, 
 with another jerk of his head, remarked, " Ts ! ts ! " 
 
 Miriel had evidently not noticed the gig as it crossed 
 the soft turf, for she was still absent when the doctor 
 entered the house, Gwen alone occupying the hearth. 
 
 "Good day, Miss Lloyd," he said, as much as possible 
 adopting the hearty, light-hearted tones of long ago. " And 
 Where's Matti ? " 
 
 For a moment she turned her still beautiful eyes upon 
 him as if startled, and answered, " I don't know," before 
 she turned again to her spinning. 
 
 "I have brought you a pincushion," continued the 
 doctor, and he dangled the little ball of blue satin before 
 her, hanging it over her fingers as she drew the thread 
 towards her. 
 
 She let it hang for a moment, and then slipping it on to her 
 waistband went on with her spinning, while Doctor Dan 
 leant back in his chair and watched her thoughtfully. 
 
 When Miriel entered carrying her frothing pail he was 
 still sitting silently observant. 
 
 Rousing himself, he turned his attention to the girl. 
 Since it was his fate to be encumbered with her, he might 
 as well, ho thought, find out of what stuff she was made. 
 
 " I saw Samson and Deio at the gate, and there's glad I 
 was," said Miriel ; " 'tis very nice to talk sometimes. I 
 am talking a lot to Kit and Brvthen, and to the fowls, and 
 the bees, oh, a lot ! for fear I will forget how to speak ! " 
 and she laughed and filled the old house with merry music. 
 
 " No fear of that, I fancy," said Doctor Dan. 
 
 "Well, indeed, I don't know. Oh, there's a pretty pin- 
 cushion with Nanti Gwen; 'twas you gave it her?" and 
 she smoothed the blue satin with a caressing touch. 
 "There's kind you are to us!" 
 
 "Oh, 'tis only a penny, child," said the doctor, awk- 
 wardly. " Here's one for you, too," and he held it 
 towards her.
 
 Iptncusbions 53 
 
 "For me? Well, indeed, 'tis pretty. Will I hang it 
 here ? " and she hung it on a nail on the whitewashed wall. 
 "Yellow and green, 'tis the colour of the daffodils." 
 
 '* Well, 'tis ; but hang it on your apron string and use it." 
 
 "Like this? yes ! Perhaps you wouldn't like me not to 
 use it. You will stop to have tea to-day? Oh, say yes, 
 indeed, indeed ! " 
 
 " Well, yes, if you like." And while she was busy with 
 her preparations he had time to note that she was not so 
 much a child as he had at first taken her to be. 
 
 " How old are you, Miriel ? " he asked. 
 
 "There's odd," said the girl, her face kindling with 
 pleasure and animation. " I am eighteen to-day, and you 
 brought me a present. 'Tis the first present I ever had, 
 except from Nanti Matti, of course." The last words were 
 spoken in a low, almost reverent, voice. She bent her 
 head over the wheaten loaf from which she was cutting the 
 thin slices of bread and butter, and when at last she 
 turned to place it on the table Doctor Dan saw a tear on 
 the long lashes, though there was a smile on her lips. 
 
 " Will I give Nanti Gwen her tea first, as usual ? " asked 
 the girl. 
 
 "Well, of course, ladies first," said the doctor, and he 
 smiled, one of those rare smiles that changed his face so 
 completely, and, seconding Miriel's attentions, he held the 
 plate for Gwen to help herself, which she did with a 
 pleased smile as rare as the doctor's, 
 
 " Oh, here's nice it is," said Miriel, sitting down to do 
 the honours. " Well, tell me, indeed, if I am not behaving 
 properly, because Nanti Matti was often saying she was 
 afraid I would forget I was a lady." 
 
 " You are behaving very nicely," said Doctor Dan, with 
 an inward smile. " Did your JSTanti Matti teach you to 
 read?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," said the girl. " I can read and write. Nanti 
 Matti was making me learn my books every night in the
 
 54 ©n tbe Mings of tbe MlnO 
 
 winter. Look at them up there by the clock, but ach-y-fi ! " 
 she added, with a little moii^ of distaste, " I am not liking 
 them — not much whatever — only one I like, and that is a 
 story." 
 
 " What is it called ? " 
 
 "Indeed, I don't know. It hasn't a cover, and no be- 
 ginning and no ending, but it's beautiful, whatever. Next 
 winter I will attend to my books again, the same exactly as 
 if Nanti Matti was here." But to the doctor it was very 
 evident that this employment would not be a labour of love. 
 
 When tea was over, and Miriel had pressed " just 
 another cup " over and over again upon her visitor, and 
 had made what she considered the proper inquiries as to 
 whether his tea was to his liking, etc., etc., he rose, and, 
 approaching the Httle bookshelf by the clock, took down 
 one after another the dog-eared books which had done duty 
 in Miriel's education — geography, grammar, spelling-book 
 and Magnal's questions. There was a Pilgrim's Progress 
 and an old Shakespeare, a few Welsh books and the much- 
 treasured story. The doctor opened its ragged and musty 
 leaves, but failed to decipher the time-stained title. 
 
 "Will I tell you the story? " said Miriel, observing that 
 the doctor did not seem much impressed by his cursory 
 peep into her favourite book, and, seating herself on the 
 three-legged stool on the hearth, she nursed her knee and 
 seemed ready to launch at once into the spirit of the 
 romance, but she was interrupted by a loud " hello ! " from 
 the gate, for Deio had returned and was tired of watching 
 the long white breakers that followed each other up the 
 sandy beach. 
 
 " And how do you fill up your time, child ? for you can't 
 be always attending to Nanti Gwen and your household 1" 
 
 " Oh, no ; you see there is always Hafod, and I am never 
 tired of that. The rooms are bare, and the windows are 
 broken, there are only owls and bats there, but I am filling it 
 with people, out of my own head, you know, and I am spend-
 
 Ipincusbions 55 
 
 ing much of my time there " ; but she stopped and hesi- 
 tated, for a strange change had come over her visitor's face 
 — the black brows were knitted, the Kps pressed hard 
 together. 
 
 " You spend much of your time at Hafod y brjm 1 " he 
 said at last, looking gravely at the girl. " What would 
 your Nanti Matti say to that ? " 
 
 "She knew, and she was willing." 
 
 " What do you want in an empty house 1 But what am 
 I saying? 'Tis well for you that it is empty, and if the 
 real people who own that house were there I would forbid 
 your entering it ; but, I suppose, as you are only a child, 
 you may do as you please." 
 
 "But I am not a child," said Miriel, "I am eighteen 
 to-day ; and why would you forbid me ? I could not live 
 without Hafod." 
 
 " Well, well, go on with your dreams, child ; I won't 
 awaken you." And he rose rather abruptly and went 
 towards the door, looking back, however, to say, — 
 
 " You are very lonely, Miriel, and I don't want to be a 
 bugbear to you, but real living friends will be better for 
 you than the ghosts of Hafod." " Poor child," he thought, 
 " I must not come between her and her simple pleasures if 
 possible," and with the words, " I could not live without 
 Hafod," ringing uncomfortably in his ears he passed out 
 through the porch. 
 
 Miriel looked after him a little disconcerted ; the tea 
 had been so delightful. Even Nanti Gwen had smiled, 
 and now a little shadow had fallen between her and her 
 new friend. This was not to be borne, so rushing after 
 him she hastily gathered a bunch of red and white roses, 
 and, reaching the little gate just as Doctor Dan was 
 stepping into his gig, she held them towards him. " Oh, 
 take these, please, indeed, because I am sorry that I was 
 not willing to give up Hafod, and oh, let me bring out some 
 tea for Deio — I won't be a minute ; " and the doctor, seeing
 
 56 ®n tbe Minas of tbe 'QCltn^ 
 
 the eager look in the child girl's eyes, acceded to her 
 request at once. 
 
 " Go on then, little woman," he said, " and make haste." 
 
 When she returned, bearing Deio's tea on a little tray, 
 she looked wistfuUy in the doctor's face and said,- — 
 
 "Will I stop going to Hafod y bryn then? I am 
 willing." 
 
 "No, no, no," answered Doctor Dan, gathering up his 
 reins. "Go where you please, Miriel ; I am willing, too," 
 and when the gig had driven up the slope she returned to 
 the house comforted.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 DREAM FACES 
 
 It was scarcely to be wondered at that Miriel should have 
 rebelled against the prohibition which threatened to 
 deprive her of the pleasure she derived from her visits 
 to the old house which stood up, grey and frowning, against 
 the sky line. Every hour that she could spare from her 
 household duties was spent in roaming through its empty 
 rooms, or over the lonely shore. 
 
 She wandered through its bare passages with a happy 
 smile, and peopled »ts empty rooms with imaginary beings, 
 feeling even more drawn to the place since Quitto had chosen 
 it to die in. In the chimney corner she pictured the head 
 of the family, an old grey-haired harpist, sitting by the 
 blazing turf fire, and drawing from his harp sucli strains as 
 had never fallen on human ears. In and out of the living 
 room passed forms who had become familiar to her by 
 continual dwelling upon them, the busy housewife, the 
 sons and daughters who did hor bidding, the cattle in the 
 sheds, the horses in the fields ; but chief in interest to her 
 was one, a girl of her own age, endowed with every charm 
 of outward appearance and inward grace, whom she called 
 Ann. She even went so far sometimes as to kindle a fire 
 in one of the old cold grates, and drawing a log beside 
 it she would hold converse with this creature of her own 
 imagination. And if this conduct appears too childish and 
 unreasonable for a girl of eighteen, remember that Miriel 
 had grown up in an atmosphere of trouble and unrest, from 
 
 57
 
 58 ®n tbe Minos of tbe TIatn^ 
 
 which her young heart was forced to escape, by creating 
 for itself a world of lovo and romance. Matti had some- 
 times chided the girl for her infatuation for the old house, 
 wondering what she found so attractive in a place that for 
 her had nothing Vjut disturbing associations ; but when she 
 saw the tears rise to the eyes and the colour to the cheeks, 
 with the fear of being forbidden to enter it, she would call 
 to mind that it was at least a harmless pleasure, and 
 she ceased to make any objection to the girl's strange 
 fancy. So Miriel continued to haunt the place, to talk to 
 Ann, to listen to the old man's harp, and to fill the 
 air with her own sonc;s and plaintive Welsh hymns. These 
 had been more frequent than the songs of late, since Nanti 
 Matti's death. 
 
 On the day succeeding Doctor Dan's last visit, she had 
 scarcely installed Mali Storrom in the rush chair beside 
 Nanti Gwen, as caretaker and entertainer, before she was 
 running up the slope to Hafod, singing as she went. It 
 was a grey, gloomy day, and the ivy which had overgrown 
 the walls swayed in heavy clumps in the wind that whistled 
 round the place. 
 
 A party of rooks rose from the dark branches, cawing 
 defiance as she entered, her usual fancies crowding thick 
 upon lier. She would light a fire ! She would sit on her 
 log and tell her phantom friend all that Doctor Dan had 
 said, and how nearly she had been robbed of her visits to 
 Hafod ; but entering the living room, what was her aston- 
 ment to hear decided and very real sounds of grating and 
 tapping ! Looking round, she saw at the deep-set window 
 a man who worked with chisel and mallet and filled the old 
 house with echoes. Miriel stood still for a moment in utter 
 surprise. She had never seen a human being in the place 
 before, except the shepherd from Llaneithin, who some- 
 times came there in search of a stray cow or sheep. 
 
 "What aro you doing?" she asked, when there was a 
 moment's pause in the tapping.
 
 Dream jfaces 59 
 
 " Hallo ! " exclaimed the man, startled. " What am I 
 doing 1 Glazing the window, b't shwr." 
 
 "What for ? " asked Miriel again. 
 
 " What for 1 To keep the wind out. Who are you, 
 then?" 
 
 " I am Miriel Lloyd, Doloer." 
 
 " Perhaps, indeed ! Poor Gwen Lloyd's niece 1 " 
 
 "Yes," said Miriel, with a nod. "But what are you 
 putting glass in the windows for ? " 
 
 She dreaded to hear his answer ; anyway, it would mean 
 so much to her. 
 
 "Why? Because there's people coming to live here. 
 They're coming next week. There's young people, two 
 sons and a niece, I think. So you'll have company." 
 
 But Miriel was already turning away. She must have 
 time and quiet to think before she could realise the im- 
 pending change, and she went into the barn, where the only 
 light came in a blue shaft through the finger hole under 
 the latch. Here she opened the upper half of the clumsy 
 door, and letting in the daylight turned to look round at 
 the familiar sight of the brown beams, the broken plough 
 in one corner, the heap of dried branches in the other, 
 as we do look round with newly-awakened eyes as it were, 
 at a sudden change of circumstances, and already to Miriel 
 the place seemed altered. What did it mean? Other 
 people to walk through the stone passages ! A stranger to 
 let the light in on the old barn ! And who ? she wondered 
 — what would they be like ? Two boys ! — she had never 
 consorted with them, no boy had ever come within the 
 circle of her acquaintance. And the girl ? Would it be 
 Ann? the friend and companion who had been so real 
 to her. And Quitto lying outside under the wall ! No 
 one would know he was there, no one would think of him ! 
 and, unable to grasp the full meaning of the news she had 
 heard, she ran breathlessly down the slope, anxious to share 
 her exciting information with somebody. She stopped at
 
 6o ®n tbe Mings of tbc Wiinb 
 
 the shanty occupied by Stivin and Mali ; the former was 
 sitting at his lathe surrounded by a heap of wooden bowls 
 and platters. 
 
 "Stivin bach! What d'ye think T' she said, standing 
 at the doorway with a pale face and wide-open eyes. " Oh, 
 what do you think ? Somebody's coming to live in Hafod 
 y bryn ! " 
 
 " Somebody — coming — to live at Hafod ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, then ! A man is there now putting glass 
 into the windows," and she ran on to her own house door, 
 leaving Stivin to assimilate the new idea by means of 
 repeating the same words — " To live at Hafod y bryn ! 
 Somebody coming to live there ! A man is putting glass 
 into the windows ! " 
 
 It was a tremendous event, and he could only scratch 
 his red head in the contemplation of it and lay aside 
 his work. 
 
 " Mali ! " called Miriel, as she entered the doorway to find 
 Gwen spinning as usual and Mali knitting beside her. 
 " Mali, I have wonderful news for thee. Somebody's coming 
 to live at Hafod ! " 
 
 " What's the lo's fach talking about 1 To live at Hafod 
 y bryn ? Who then ? What's his name t " 
 
 " Oh ! I don't know, but he has two boys and a niece, 
 and a man is mending the windows for them. Next week 
 they are coming. But how can I live without Hafod 1 " 
 
 " Well, in my deed, I think 'twill be a good thing 
 for you, child ; there will be company for you. They will 
 want bowls and platters whatever, and baskets too, be 
 bound ! " 
 
 She gathered her knitting together and went home to 
 tell Stivin what he already knew, while Miriel turned to 
 her household duties with a flushed face and sparkling 
 eyes. The fowls must be fed and the goats milked whatever 
 happened, but it seemed quite strange that the waves broke 
 as regularly as usual on the beach, and the bees hummed as
 
 S)ream jfaces 6i 
 
 placidly as ever in the garden. She prepared the evening 
 meal and laid it neatly on the table in the chimney corner, 
 but was too excited to eat much herself, and after the sun 
 had set and she had drawn the quilt over Nanti Gwen 
 sleeping peacefully, as she always did till morning, she 
 went out into the cool grey twilight, to roam over the 
 broad, flat sands, to look again and again at the old 
 walls above the moor, and think over the wonderful event 
 that was about to happen. 
 
 So unvaried and monotonous had her existence been 
 hitherto, that a far less momentous event would have 
 raised a vortex in the placid lake of her life. 
 
 However, she had still a week in which to dream and 
 weave her own fancies, and on the next day she once more 
 turned her face to the moor, both Stivin and Mali urging 
 her to go and seek for further signs of the expected 
 arrivals. 
 
 Hafod y bryn was one of those primitive dwellings a few 
 of which still linger on from the past, where, as you enter 
 the house door, you are confronted by a row of cows and 
 oxen, for one side of the passage is open to the " boidy '" 
 or cow-house, only separated from it by a strong wooden 
 rail, behind which the cows stand each tied to her post. 
 
 On the other side is the kitchen or living room, and 
 opening out of that, the guest-room, or the " preachers'- 
 room," as it was called, in allusion to the old-fashioned 
 hospitality always eagerly pressed upon any minister of 
 religion who might happen to visit the neighbourhood. 
 
 Miriel looked into the dim, low cow-shed and tried to 
 realise that soon the soft eyes and fragrant breath of real 
 living cows would fill the empty space. 
 
 Suddenly she was startled by a sigh, which certainly 
 came from the living-room, and turning in to the doorway on 
 the right, she saw, standing under the open chimney, a tall 
 figure, who looked at her in surprise. A gaunt, grey man 
 with stooping shoulders and hollow eyes.
 
 62 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Mint) 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Miriel, " I didn't know anyone was 
 here," and she stopped, uncertain what to do or say next. 
 
 " Yes," said the stranger, " I have come on before, to see 
 what is wanted to make the place fit to live in. And who 
 are you 1 " 
 
 As usual the girl's reply came readily, " I am Miriel 
 Lloyd, Doloer." 
 
 The grey man started, and looked curiously at her. 
 "Doloer? You don't live there alone, do you 1 But surely 
 your aunt is dead 1 " 
 
 '• Yes, yes. That is dear Nanti Matti ; Nanti Gwen is 
 alive, and I am taking care of her." 
 
 " Gwen alive ! I thought she was dead years ago," 
 and something like a groan escaped his lips ; but he 
 checked himself, and continued, " Poor thing ! poor tiling, 
 and how is she ? It was true what I heard 1 that she 
 had lost her reason." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Miriel, shaking her head sadly, "and 
 she is the same to-day. Always spinning, but no real wheel 
 before her, and singing low sometimes she is, that old song, 
 ' On the wings of the wind.' " 
 
 Another groan, unmistakable this time, and the stranger 
 turned to the little window, looking long down over the 
 slope to the brown thatch of Doloer. Miriel heard, but 
 was silent ; she had not known much happiness in her 
 young life, except that which emanated from her own 
 sunny nature, and was not therefore much surprised to 
 find that still another human being had something to 
 sigh for. 
 
 " 'Twill be very nice here when 'tis cleaned and the 
 tables and chairs have come," she said at last, and then 
 she asked a most irrelevant question, " Can you play the 
 harp 1 " She had looked the grey man over, and come 
 to the conclusion that he would do for the chimney 
 corner if only he could produce the tender strains of her 
 dreams.
 
 Dream jfaces 63 
 
 " Caton pawb ! no," said the man, turning round to look 
 at her, " what d'ye mean ? " and Muriel, blushing, hastened 
 to retrieve her false step. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis only I would like to hear a harp. Will I help 
 you to clean the house out ] " 
 
 " No, no ; some strong woman must come and do that." 
 
 "Mali Storrom will come if you like," she said. 
 
 " Mali Storrom and Stivin ! Are they here too ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, close to Doloer. See ! their little shed is 
 quite near us. Sometimes in the night I don't know 
 whether 'tis Stivin is snoring or the pigs, "and she laughed, 
 her eyes sparkling and the blood mantling in her cheeks, 
 as it always did when she was merry ; but the grey man 
 did not smile. 
 
 " No," he said, " I will not ask Mali Storrom to come. 
 Better a woman from yonder village over the wood." 
 
 " I have never been beyond the wood," said Miriel. " I 
 would be afraid to go so far, because, you see, I am not 
 used to the trees and the fields and the villages ; they are 
 looking very pretty from here, but on the shore and on the 
 slope I am feeling safe." 
 
 By this it will be seen that Miriel was not slow to seize 
 the first opportunity for conversation. 
 
 The sun was drawing towards the west, Kit and Brython, 
 who had strayed over the moor, were gradually drawing 
 nearer home, the shadow of the tree mallows on the garden 
 hedge had reached the window at Doloer. '"Tis time to 
 go," she said. *' Mali Storrom will be sure to ask me what 
 is your name." 
 
 " Oh, never mind that," said the grey man ; " you will 
 learn that soon enough." 
 
 "Good-bye, then," said the girl, reluctantly bringing her 
 first conversation with a stranger to a close. 
 
 "After all," she thought, as she ran down over the 
 heather, " it will be nice to hear the people answering 
 me."
 
 64 ®n tbe Mtnos of tbe MtnD 
 
 " Well 1 " said Mali, dropping her knitting. 
 
 " Well, the man is there ! " answered Miriel. " A tall 
 man with rather grey hair, and grey eyes and a long grey 
 coat and a slouched hat; his shoulders are bending a 
 little, pwr fellow ! He is sighing sometimes between his 
 talking. I am sure he is a nice man, but he can't play 
 the harp ! " 
 
 " Play the harp ? " said Mali, with a stare. 
 
 " No, no, of course not," said the girl, again hastening 
 to hide her mistake; "but he is looking something like a 
 harpist." 
 
 "I never saw one," said Mali, "except Dai Pentre in the 
 tavern at Tregarreg." 
 
 " He wants someone to clean the liouse for him," said 
 Miriel. " I said, ' Mali Storrom,' but he said, ' No, no, 
 better a woman from over the wood.' " 
 
 " A better woman from over the wood indeed 1 The 
 bold blackguard ! Let him go over the wood himself ! 
 and stay there ! Who is he, I'd like to know, to make so 
 little of mo 1 " 
 
 Stivin, hearing the loud tones, guessed from experience 
 what they betokened, and came in to see that " the lo's 
 fach " did not get the worst of the fray. Mali, he knew, 
 was well able to take care of herself. 
 
 " Oh ! she's off ! " he said, chuckling. 
 
 " Yes, she's off," said Mali, turning upon him sharply, 
 " and you be off too," and she unceremoniously pushed him 
 out through the doorway. 
 
 " Never mind her, 'merch i ! " he called back, chuckling 
 at his own discomfiture. " Turn your back to the wave 
 and it will pass over you harmless." 
 
 " Booby ! " said Mali, taking up her knitting, and re- 
 turning to the subject that interested them all so much. 
 
 " Mark my words, 'merch i 1 'tis Silvan Vaughan himself, 
 though where he got his grey hair and his stooping 
 shoulders from I can't think ; but 'tis no wonder, too, for
 
 ©ream facce 65 
 
 time no doubt had weighed heavily upon him, with all his 
 sina coming to his mind. Ach y fi ! " 
 
 Miriel longed to ask " What did he do ? " but, dreading 
 to hear something derogatory to her new acquaintance, 
 controlled her curiosity, and turned with never - flagging 
 interest to the discussion of the approaching event.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 " BETHEL " GHOSTS 
 
 It was sunset, aud in the long, low parlour at Ilendyrafon, 
 Doctor Dan had sat for full half an hour, silently gazing 
 down the river which flowed from east to west under the 
 walls of the old house, softly gliding over the deep pools, 
 whispering, trickling and bubbling over the shallows, dash- 
 ing against the black, mossy rocks that opposed its course, till 
 the spray and the wash of it caught the sunset glow and 
 glinted like sparks of fire. Outside the window beside 
 which he mused, ran a long balcony, from which a flight 
 of stone steps led down to the river, for what purpose 
 nobody could tell, for no boat could have passed over the 
 swirling pool at their feet, or, if it did, could ever have 
 crossed the rapids that rushed through the gorge beyond ; 
 but there they were, their intention buried in the oblivion 
 into which the past of Hendyrafon faded. As he sat at 
 the broad, low lattice window and watched the turbulent 
 river as it flowed away into the sunset, he allowed hia 
 thoughts to wander into the past, losing himself in the 
 rush of the waters and calling to mind the things that 
 might have been and those that had been, but had faded 
 out of life as the years passed on. 
 
 " What's he doing up there by himself, looking out 
 through the window and thinking — thinking 1 " said Betti 
 Luke, as she passed in and out of the kitchen with the 
 preparations for his simple supper. " Ach y fi ! 'tis the 
 worst thing one can do is to think, — why, if I was to begin 
 
 66
 
 n 
 
 JSetbel" (3bost3 67 
 
 to do that, I would got mad ; if 'twas only to think of the 
 lindsey gown I bought last Fair Haf,* and paid half-a-crown 
 a yard for it, and 'tis losing its colour shocking ; and the 
 fowls I thought to sell for three shillings a couple all get- 
 ting the gapes and dying ! People have no business to 
 think, or they'll be fit for nothing ; " so she laid the plates 
 and the knives on the table with an extra clatter, which liad 
 the desired eflfect of rousing her master from his reverie. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! what's the matter?" he said, looking 
 round." 
 
 " What's the matter with you, 'machgeni ? " said Betti, 
 " sitting there like an image and not saying * bo ' to any- 
 one. I'm afraid you are thinking, and that's a bad thing." 
 
 " You're about right, Betti," he said, with one of those 
 rare smiles which, however, Betti saw oftener than anyone 
 else. " 'Tis wiser, I believe, to live as you do, without a 
 thought except for the work of the day." 
 
 "Oh, stop you," said Betti, "I am not like the 'beast 
 that perisheth.' On Sundays," and she waved a knife in 
 in the air, " I am thinking a lot for the good of my soul ; 
 about my chapel, of my hymns and the ' Pwnc ' that we 
 are learning, 'tis the twenty-fifth of Hebrews next Sunday 
 and there's long it is." 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the doctor, "I hear you at it from 
 morning to night on Sundays ; you must know it by this 
 time." 
 
 "Yes, listen you now;" and while the doctor ate his 
 supper she began to recite the chapter she had indicated 
 in a high-pitched monotone, never varying the tone except 
 in the second syllable of every sentence. 
 
 " Oh, for mercy's sake, stop ! " said the doctor, and Betti 
 pulled herself up suddenly. 
 
 " There's no stopping till you come to an end of the 
 'Pwnc,'" she said, "and I will finish it now, 'machgeni, 
 because it may do you good ; I'm afraid 'tisn't much of 
 
 * Summer Fair.
 
 68 ®n tbc Minos ot tbe imnb 
 
 the Scripture you're hearing, because you're not going to 
 church so often as you might do, and there's regular you 
 used to go long ago ; so listen you to these verses ; " and 
 she began again in the same curious monotone. 
 
 *' Hush, woman, or you'll drive mo mad," said the doctor. 
 
 "Well," said Betti, halting, "if you'll promise to come 
 to chapel next Sunday night and hear the rest I'll stop.'' 
 She had long tried to beguile him into the chapel which 
 was so dear to her, and had lately felt that her pleadings 
 must be seconded by some more decided endeavours, and 
 here was an unlooked-for opportunity. 
 
 " Will you come, 'machgeni 1 Remember how you used to 
 go with your mother on Sunday evenings, because 'twas to 
 chapel she was going like me, though you and your father 
 went to church. Now listen," and she began again, 
 '•'Neglect not, therefore, the gathering of yourselves 
 together.'" 
 
 " Hush, hush," said the doctor. " I will come to Bethel 
 to-morrow evening and hear the rest." 
 
 "Not a word more then," said Betti, delighted with her 
 success. "'Tis just above the clock I will be standing, 
 and you will hear my voice quite plain from the ' big seat,' 
 because of course they'll put you there." 
 
 " Will they ? " said Doctor Dan, " not if I know it, Betti ; 
 but I hear your voice often enough when you are not 
 standing by the clock. Go now, I am going to read ; " and 
 Betti cleared away the supper and left the room, turning 
 back however to add, "Promise not to think now." 
 
 " Not a thought, I'll be as dead as a door nail to my 
 own thoughts for the next hour, for I'm going to be carried 
 away by a magic wand ; " and ho threw himseli back in his 
 chair and buried himself in the enchanting pages of 
 Ivanhoe. 
 
 He kept his promise to Betti, of which he was reminded 
 as he passed through the street the next evening, when he 
 saw the long windows at Bethel illumined from within,
 
 it 
 
 Betbel" 6bosts 69 
 
 the two doors open, and the people streaming in from the 
 roadway. It was years since he had entered the chapel in 
 which his mother had worshipped. 
 
 " By Jove ! " he said, '* I must keep my promise to Betti 
 or I'll hear more of that voice to-night ; " and he entered 
 the chapel with a knot of worshippers and reached a quiet 
 corner unobserved. 
 
 Here, in the shadow of the gallery, he could indulge in 
 that exercise which Betti so strongly deprecated, for as he 
 sat there a flood of old memories crowded in upon him, 
 the volume of sound, the lights, the throng of worshippers, 
 above all, the singing of the old Welsh hymns, carried him 
 back to past times, and to many differing scenes connected 
 with the chapel in the old days that had entirely gone out 
 of his life. He scarcely heard the loud-voiced preacher, 
 nor the reverent if ill-expressed prayers, so carried away 
 was he by the associations of the place. 
 
 Casting his eyes round the crowded building, he conjured 
 up the past, and seemed to see his mother, placid and pale, 
 in her accustomed seat, while in the gallery sat the two 
 Tygwyn sisters, one of whom was the loadstar after which 
 his soul longed. He saw it all and forgot the heated 
 atmosphere, the pressing throng, the glaring lamps, and a 
 great wonder fell upon him at the complete change which 
 had taken place in him since those old days. 
 
 What was this hopeless void which surrounded him ? 
 what this aimless, hard routine into which his life had 
 fallen 1 And remembering Miriel's face, so full of hope 
 and joy, a fresh throb of interest awoke also in his own 
 soul. 
 
 He was recalled to the scene around him by the end of 
 the service and the commencement of the " Pwnc," in 
 which all the members of the Sunday School took part, 
 young and old, all shuffling up to the front of the gallery 
 and preparing first to recite the long chapter they had 
 learnt by heart in one continuous monotone, and after-
 
 70 ®n tbe Wiims of tbe Min& 
 
 wards to answer the questions upon it which the preacher 
 propounded from the pulpit. 
 
 Doctor Dan smiled as he heard Betti's voice distinctly 
 raised above the others for his special edification, but was 
 thankful wlien the large congregation at last rose and 
 filed out through the doorways into the clear, star-lit 
 air. 
 
 He was not the only stranger who attended the service 
 that evening at Bethel. 
 
 At the further end of the chapel, in a dark corner under 
 the gallery, sat another man whose thoughts were also far 
 from the scenes around him, and, strange to say, they had 
 followed the same path as Doctor Dan's in their retrosj)ec- 
 tions. A tall, thin figure, with hair of iron grey, and 
 shoulders bent a little ; though dressed in the garb of a 
 farmer he still appeared to belong to a difierent class, his 
 nervous, long fingers and hands looking too delicate for 
 farm work. 
 
 His grey eyes roamed over the chapel seeking and 
 missing old, familiar forms, and substituting for the living 
 faces that crowded round him, those of the dead or 
 vanished who had once filled their places. 
 
 " Is there no one that I know ? " he asked himself as he 
 looked round. " Yes ! there is King Dai standing in the 
 same spot as he did fifteen years ago, and indeed there is 
 his crabbed wife, Peggi Doll, sitting on her stool. There is 
 old Shon y fclin too, and Tim Scrivenwr where I am 
 lodging, and no one else can I see but strangers," and he 
 sighed, heaving his stooping shoulders and pushing his 
 thin fingers through his scant hair. He glanced up at the 
 gallery, and before his mental vision rose two fair faces 
 who looked at him with reproachful eyes, and with a groan 
 he bent his head, leaning his elbow on his knee. 
 
 The preacher noticed him, and congratulated himself on 
 having touched the stranger's conscience by his fiery 
 denunciations, and forthwith launched into a fresh and
 
 ^'Betbel" (Bijosts v 
 
 vivid description of the bottomless pit, with which he seemed 
 strangely familiar. But it was all unheard by Silvan 
 Vaughan, for he it was who sat there and trod the same 
 paths of memory as Doctor Dan, but with this difierence, 
 that with the reminiscences of the latter came no sense of 
 sin and injury impossible to atone for. At last it was 
 over, and he joined with a sense of relief the crowd who 
 made their way out into the street. 
 
 The doors were narrow, and the close-packed congrega- 
 tion pressed upon each other as they emerged into the 
 night air, so that Silvan Vaughan was not much surprised 
 when a man hustled him rather vigorously as he passed, 
 and, turning round with a hasty apology, revealed to him 
 the face of Doctor Dan. It was a good thing that for the 
 time the stranger was supported by the crowd around him, 
 for the sight of the doctor's face seemed to have unnerved 
 him strangely, and had there been anyone to notice it, 
 they would have observed how irregular and halting were 
 his steps as he walked up the street. Peggi Doll and King 
 Dai were close behind him, her wooden stool tapping the 
 ground as she leaped along the road, and it was Silvan 
 Vaughan's turn to " beg pardon " a few minutes after- 
 wards, when coming to a sudden standstill the little stool 
 came down upon his heels. 
 
 " Oh ! it's you. Silvan Vaughan," she croaked, " though 
 I would never know you, there's changed you are ; " but 
 the tall man did not hear her, for he had slipped to the 
 ground with a groan and was quickly surrounded by a 
 crowd of sympathisers. 
 
 " Pwr fellow bach ! who is he 1 " 
 
 " Tim Scrivenwr's lodger," said another, and the uncon- 
 scious man was soon carried into his lodgings, while a boy 
 was despatched for the doctor. 
 
 *' Doctor Jones, mind you," said somebody, " because 
 he's a member at Bethel." But this did not suit Peggi 
 Doll, and as the boy was starting in hot haste she tripped
 
 72 On tbe mims of tbe MinD 
 
 him up with her stool, and when he gathered himself to- 
 gether again fixed her keen eye upon him and said, — 
 
 " There's Doctor Dan just passed, run, boy, and fetch 
 him ; he will come quicker than Doctor Jones," and the 
 boy, frightened by the gleam of her black eye, did as he 
 was bid, and in a few moments Doctor Dan himself 
 entered the cottage. 
 
 " 'Tis a fit he's got," said Tim Scrivenwr, every ailment 
 being put down to "fits" or "flammashwn." 
 
 The doctor approached the bed upon which the man lay, ■* 
 white and sunken, and for a few moments there was 
 silence in the room while he applied the necessary restora- 
 tives. 
 
 '"Tis the heart," ho said. «' Who is heV but almost 
 before he had asked the question, certainly before he had 
 been answered, a dawning suspicion crossed his mind, and, 
 fixing his eyes upon the stranger, he recognised the form 
 and features of Silvan Vaughan, the bosom friend of his 
 youth, the traitor who had wrecked his life, and through 
 his whole body surged a hot flush of indignation and 
 hatred. 
 
 As life returned to the inanimate face their eyes met in 
 a long, silent gaze, of entreaty on the one side and hard 
 resentment on the other. Slowly the eyes of the stranger 
 sank before the doctor's stern expression, and he turned 
 his head wearily away. 
 
 *' He will do now," said Doctor Dan. " I will send 
 something for him ; " and turning from the bedside he made 
 his way to the door, where a knot of sympathisers stood 
 waiting. 
 
 "A fit, sir?" 
 
 " Yes, yes, if you like, that will do ; 'tis his heart," and he 
 passed out into the darkness unheeding, perhaps not hear- 
 ing, what Tim Scrivenwr heard himself but indistinctly — 
 "Dan," called the invalid, and stretched one thin hand 
 towards the doctor's retreating figure, but he had pa&sed
 
 •♦JSetbel" Gbosts n 
 
 into the street. The little room was empty save for his 
 landlady's bulky figure. 
 
 Later on, the usual paper-wrapped bottle arrived from 
 the doctor's, and Silvan Vaughan, having much recovered, 
 unwrapped it himself eagerly with a look of disappointment. 
 
 " Nothing but this ? " he said. 
 
 " Nothing," said Jinny. 
 
 He scarcely knew what he had expected, and with a 
 long-drawn "Ah!" of resignation leant back upon his 
 pillow. Next morning he asked permission to occupy 
 his lodgings for another day. 
 
 " I am not feeling quite well enough to ride on to Hafod 
 y bryn to-day," he explained. " Flower will be all right 
 ill the ' Crown ' stable, and to-morrow the carts will bo 
 passing and I will go with them." 
 
 "Well, b'tshwr ! " said Jinny, "as long as you like, and 
 welcome. 'Tis 3d. a night, and 9d. for your food every 
 day, and the longer the better for me." 
 
 Tim Scrivenwr was delighted. There would be an eye- 
 witness to the importance of his avocation, for it was very 
 unsatisfactory to toil over a letter, to adorn it with 
 flourishes of the pen, and flowers of rhetoric, and then to 
 consign it to a prosaic, unappreciative letter-box. The 
 chief aim of his life was to convince the world of his com- 
 plete mastery over the English language, and he took 
 every opportunity of expressing himself in that tongue, to 
 the great annoyance of his less learned neighbours. On a 
 large card over the chimney-piece was emblazoned the 
 text, " Greater is he that ruleth his own spirit than he 
 who taketh a city." 
 
 " That's it," he had said, with a wave of his hand, upon 
 his lodger's first entrance the night before. 
 
 " That's my text ; fits every part of my life ! 'Tis the 
 standard under which I fight," and his fiery blue eyes 
 sparkled, his red cheeks burnt, and his grey hair bristled as 
 if with aggressive self-assertion. Tim did fight valiantly
 
 74 ®n tbe WiinQS of tbe Mln5 
 
 with his irascible temper, but the battle bid fair to go on 
 for his lifetime, for in every contest he was vanquished at 
 last; but was ready with indomitable courage to fight 
 again. 
 
 "See," he said, when Silvan Vaughan, returning from a 
 visit to his horse at the "Crown" Inn, found his host 
 sitting at the kitchen table behind the shop, surrounded 
 by scattered sheets of paper, pens, ink and stamps. He 
 invariably bore a quill pen behind his ear. " See," he 
 said, " how busy I am ! how many letters I have to write. 
 In my deed ! 'tis wonderful how ignorant the Tregarreg 
 people are; all coming to me, and only a penny a letter 
 thoy pay me, and not thinking I got letters to write for 
 myself. Tan-i-marw ! I'll charge them twopence," and he 
 brought his fist down with a bang on the table. 
 
 " 'Tis hard upon you," said the lodger. " Will I write 
 one or two for you while I am here ] " 
 
 " Write one or two for me ! " said Tim, scornfully ; 
 " what do you know about the people ? Here's one I have 
 wrote for Sarah Pantgwyn ; you read it." And he handed 
 the letter to him with much pride,* 
 
 ♦• Mr JoxEs, 
 
 " Dear Sir," it began, — " I am deep grieved to have 
 to inform you that your tenant Sarah Williams Pantgwyn, 
 is can't pay the rent up to date this time, she is begging of 
 you to have mercy upon her and she will pay you all, when 
 she have had a tay party to make up the deficit. Honoured 
 Sir, she, have had an accident, and have broke her leg, so 
 now Sarah, pwr thing, have only got one log supporting 
 her body ; she is an old mead and so she got no husband 
 to work for her. She have reared a fine son in her time, 
 but in the ' Works ' he's living, and got a wife <k three 
 smole sildren ; so not can send her no money nor nothing. 
 Dear Sir, hoping you will take these items into considera- 
 * Tim's letters are verbatim copies of the original*.
 
 ^'Betbel" ebosts 75 
 
 tion and forgive her not pay the rent this time. — Yours 
 humble servant, Timothy Thomas (Scrivenwr)." 
 
 " There ! " he said, as Silvan Vaughan came to the end. 
 *' What d'ye think of that 1 English — mind you ! and look 
 at the writing ; 'tis like copper-plate." 
 
 *' Very good indeed," said the lodger. 
 
 " "Well, here's one I am writing for myself, and mind 
 you I have hard work to keep my temper when I'm writing 
 to those devils. 
 
 " Messrs Heaver & Fling, 
 Bristol, 
 
 " Gentlemens, — I am very sorry to have to inform you 
 that the sope I order from you this six weeks back have 
 never arrive ; and I now, 'tis your great business is tlie 
 cose of you to forget to send it, but, dear gentlemen, I have 
 been a good customer to you, and I beg on you to send me 
 the goods I order at once, becos my customers want the 
 sope shocking. With my humble respex. — I am. Gentle- 
 men, Your humble servant, Timothy Thomas. 
 
 " P.S. — Why not send me the sope, drat you ! I pay as 
 well as nobody from all times." 
 
 •* There ! " he said again, with a satisfied air. 
 
 " 'Tis a very good letter, no doubt," said his lodger ; 
 " but I'm thinking you forgot the text when you wrote the 
 postscript." 
 
 " Text or no text ! " shouted Tim. " They are a pack of 
 thieves, and haven't sent me the sop ! " and, completely 
 overcome by his fiery temper, he burst into a torrent of 
 abuse that astonished as much as it amused his quiet 
 lodger. He was still more surprised when, on rising next 
 morning and entering the kitchen, he found Tim Scrivenwr 
 standing in front of his text in rapt contemplation.
 
 76 ®n tbe Minas of tbe Minb 
 
 " There it is ! " he cried, waving his pen ; " will suit 
 every man at every time — * Greater is he that ruleth his 
 own spirit than he that taketh a city.' 'Twas I was beaten 
 last night," he said, turning to his lodger, " but, stop a bit ! 
 I'll have at that temper again, drat it ! "
 
 CHAPTER VITI 
 
 NEW FRIENDS 
 
 Miriel's excitement, as she saw on the sky-line the arrival 
 of the furniture at Hafod y bryu, prevented her attending 
 to her household duties with her usual precision, for it was 
 hard to keep the porridge from burning and watch the pro- 
 ceedings at the farm at the same time. Her own dinner, 
 therefore, was not a success, though Nanti Gwen's slice of 
 bacon and broad beans were not neglected. 
 
 But what did it matter, when plainly against the back- 
 ground of grey wall she saw the whole family of the newly- 
 arrived pass backwards and forwards 1 
 
 A dozen times that day she called upon Mali and Stivin 
 to share her curiosity. 
 
 " Oh, Mali, look, look ! there's a girl, just my size, 
 driving the cows into Parc-lidan, and see the horses going 
 into the stable — oh ! anw'l ! 'twill be strange indeed." 
 
 " Yes — and there's the old man and his son carrying the 
 churn in. The woman from over the wood is a lazy huzzy. 
 "What for is she carrying the small things in and letting 
 her master carry the big ones ? Will I go and offer to 
 help them ? " 
 
 " Yes, do, Mali fach ; they will never get straight without 
 thy help." 
 
 " Well, indeed, p'r'aps not," said Mali. " I can offer 
 whatever, though His Silvan Vauglian." 
 
 Miriel looked troubled as Mali ran up the slope. " Though 
 
 77
 
 78 Qn tbe Minos of tbe Minb 
 
 it is Silvan Vaughan," she repeated to herself. " I don't 
 know what he has done, pwr fellow, but, indeed, Stivin 
 bach, 'tis a pity for him whatever, so sad he is looking 
 and so ill. Oh, I can't think why is Doctor Dan so hard 
 against him." 
 
 "Well, 'merch i," said Stivin, " we don't know what has 
 happened in the past between them both, and the past and 
 the present 'tis impossible to separate them sometimes. 
 This we know, that once they were friends and now they 
 are bitter enemies." 
 
 Miriel sighed as she turned into the house. She was 
 beginning to learn that a widening circle of acquaintance 
 must inevitably bring unrest to a sympathetic nature. 
 
 She waited impatiently for evening. When quite late 
 in the gloaming Mali returned, bursting with the import- 
 ance of having real news to tell, and not only the floating 
 rumours which had hitherto been the only variation in their 
 monotonous life ; she drew the back of her hand over her 
 mouth in preparation for a long yarn, wiped her steaming 
 brow with her check apron, and, settling herself down on 
 a chair, began, while Stivin and Miriel stood listening. 
 
 " 'Tis Silvan Vaughan, and no mistake ! though dir 
 anw'l ! he's altered, he is altered ; but the same soft voice 
 he's got and the same pleasant ways with him ; but when 
 the others are laughing, he is only smiling, caton pawb ! 
 there's odd 1 how one's sins find one out. Doctor Dan can 
 very well forgive him, because for certain the Almighty is 
 dealing with him. Good furniture he's got though, oak 
 chest and oak table, and the chairs and corner cupboard 
 all oak, as black as peat, and the churn and dairy things 
 well scrubbed, fair play to them, before they came here, so 
 no thanks to ' that woman from over the wood.' Nell is 
 her name, if you please. Uwd and milk they had for 
 dinner — I made it myself ; and beautiful tea in the eve- 
 ning and white bread and butter — splendid ! from the 
 baker's at Tregarreg."
 
 mew Jfden^5 79 
 
 "Oh, never mind the tea," said Miriel ; "tell us about 
 the girl." 
 
 "Oh, she's a fine, strapping girl, in my deed she is, and 
 as sharp as a needle ; in and out of the rooms, * Betta ' is 
 her name, and it is Betta here and Betta there. I don't 
 know what they'd do without her ; and the sou, lago his 
 name is, ach y fi ! What for are they calling him lago 1 
 'tis an ugly name." 
 
 •' lago," mused Miriel. " I like it : it was the name of 
 my uncle who died — yes, I like lago." 
 
 " Well, he's an odd man, whatever," continued Mali ; 
 " silent he is as bis father, not talking much, but doing 
 something all the time ; and funny too, making us laugh 
 very often, but not laughing himself. I was trying not to 
 laugh, because I thought if the master was serious the maid 
 ought to be, but, caton pawb ! that Nell didn't care ; she 
 was cackling like a goose all the time, and that's my thought, 
 that lago was laughing at her to himself. 
 
 « i jiji^g yery kind of thee, Mali, to come and help us,' said 
 the master ; and he paid me a shilling, though I told him 
 'tis ninepence we are getting here. ' And will you come 
 again to-morrow 1' says he. 'Well,' says I, 'you won't 
 want two of us r ' No,' he says, ' the other woman won't 
 be wanted to-morrow.' So there ! Be bound he saw how 
 slow she was — the cackling goose. And to-morrow I'll be 
 up early, and I'll have them straight and comfortable 
 before night." 
 
 Although Mali continued for the rest of the evening to 
 meander round the same subject of conversation, Miriel 
 found there was no more tangible information to be gained 
 from her, and had perforce to be satisfied with the little 
 she could sift from Mali's conjectures. 
 
 When, towards evening, her curiosity had been strained 
 to the utmost, a call from the top of the hill relieved the 
 tension, and she stood gazing up with wide-open, ex- 
 pectant eyes.
 
 So ®n tbe mims of the Min5 
 
 Again came the call " Mii'iel ! " floating down on the 
 soft evening air. Still she stood hesitating, until she saw, 
 running down the moor, the grey figure of a young man 
 who hurried towards Doloer. 
 
 " Is it me you want ? " she called, as he approached. 
 
 " Are you Miriel ? " he said, arriving at where she stood 
 waiting. 
 
 "Yes," she answered. 
 
 "Will you come, then, and help us a bit? 'Tis the big 
 coffer we have been fighting with the last hour, and not an 
 inch will he move ; one leg of him has got in a hole in the 
 boards, and here we are ! four men and women beaten by 
 a stupid old coffer ; 'tis someone to slide the roller under it 
 we want when we are lifting it in." 
 
 "Oh ! I'll come," said Miriel. " Stivin will watch Nanti 
 Gwen." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; or I'll go myself," said Stivin, for he had 
 much resented not being called into closer touch with the 
 excitement of the arrival ; but Miriel, fleet of foot, was 
 already speeding up the hill, while the youth, a little tired 
 perhaps with his fight with the coffer, followed more 
 slowly, a smile in his eyes as he saw the speed with which 
 Miriel made her way up the slope. 
 
 "Jari! she's a good runner," he said; "and there's a 
 pretty girl she is ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Miriel had reached the old living-room so 
 familiar to her, already wearing a look of domesticity if 
 not of comfort. On the broad, open hearth a fire of wood 
 flamed and crackled ; beside it Silvan Vaughan, resting 
 awhile from his labours, smoked a short clay pipe, the blue 
 wreaths of smoke from which curled up the chimney. Two 
 cupboard beds of oak stood on one side of the room, their 
 polished panels almost reaching the whole length of the 
 wall. On the other side the small, deep-set window, facing 
 the west, let in a stream of golden sunset light, the shining 
 dresser, on which Mali and Nell had ranged a full comple-
 
 ment of jugs and plates, stretched across one end of the 
 room, and through the open doorway, at which Miriel 
 stood, came the lowing of the cows, standing in a row 
 behind the rail of the passage, and a little restless at their 
 new posts. Betta's round eyes grew larger as she gazed at 
 the newcomer, though a smile of greeting curved her lips, 
 which were full and red as two cherries and vied with the 
 ripe, warm glow of her cheeks. 
 
 " 'Tis the lo's fach from Doloer," said Silvan Vaughan, 
 rising; "you were asking about Betta, 'merch i, here she 
 is, and here's my son lago ; and the whole lot of us, with 
 Mali into the bargain, can't move this old coffer into its 
 right place." 
 
 *' 'Tisn't straight, I see," said Miriel ; and Mali, coming 
 in from the yard, they once more set their shoulders to the 
 work, and, lifting the end, Miriel was able to slide into the 
 hole in the boards a stone with which lago provided her. 
 
 "That's right, one more heave, and there he's in his 
 place," said lago, " and may he fall into shivers before he 
 has ever to be moved again." 
 
 " Most like he will, and most like 'twill be the same 
 with me," said Silvan Vaughan, or " Vone yr Hafod," as 
 he would henceforth be called. There was a good deal of 
 laughter and merry talk amongst the young people as they 
 set the heavy, lumbering articles of furniture in their places. 
 The dairy utensils, and the few things which were carried 
 up to the " lloft " where Betta would sleep came last. 
 
 " It will be nice to sleep here," said Miriel, " with the 
 woods and the fields and the valley stretching out before 
 you, and the sun will be rising there in the morning ; 'tis 
 the sea we see, and the waves and the rocks, and the sun 
 going down behind it in the evening." 
 
 Betta shrugged her shoulders. " 'Tis a lonesome place 
 up here, whatever, ach y fi ! I will cut that ivy, 'tis sweep- 
 ing against the window like a big bird's wings." 
 
 " Don't cut much, Betta ; the crows are building full in 
 
 V
 
 82 ©n tbe Minos ot tbc Min^ 
 
 it, and I am so fond of them, and an owl is in that hole 
 with her little ones. Oh ! I would miss her shocking ! " 
 
 " Do you like to hear the owls and see the bats flying 
 about, then 1 " 
 
 " Yes, indeed. You see, I have never had any companion 
 in my life, so I have been making friends with the birds 
 and the dogs and every living thing." 
 
 " There's strange ! " said Betta. " Indeed, I won't drive 
 them away if you are not willing ; but now you will have 
 me, perhaps you will be frituds with me 1 " 
 
 " Yes, indeed. There's glad I am," said Miriel, and she 
 debated within herself whether she should toll Betta of her 
 day dreams and how she had pictured her, finally deciding, 
 however, not to confide to another the romantic secrets 
 which had hitherto given her so much pleasure. 
 
 " After all," she thought, " Betta was better, perhaps, 
 for everyday constant intercourse. Her quick and restless 
 ways all reminded Miriel of the birds that flitted about the 
 gorse and heather, and the complete difierence between the 
 newcomer and the girl of her dreams, was rather bewildering 
 at first, but before long her energetic and matter-of-fact ways 
 took Miriel's heart by stoi'm, and filled a gap in her existence 
 which she had hitherto felt without realising ; her presence 
 banishing forever the creature of her imagination whom 
 she had called "Ann." 
 
 Gradually, too, she dropped the habits of solitary 
 musings which had peopled her lonely life with pleasant, 
 though imaginary, companions, and she fell naturally into 
 the more satisfactory intercourse with material and mun- 
 dane beings. 
 
 'Twas a happy day for her when Silvan Vaughan came 
 to HafoJ y bryn, and when at last sunset called her home 
 to Nanti Gwen, Betta accompanied her a little way down 
 the slope. 
 
 "Will you come to Doloer sometimes?" she said. 
 
 " Oh ! anw'l ! yes, I'm afraid 'tis too often I'll be coming;
 
 where else will I go ? There was a village near us in North 
 Wales, but Uncle Sil was never happy there, he was always 
 hankering after this old place, though in my deed I can't 
 think why ; but I was glad to come too, because I knew 
 'twas near the sea." 
 
 " Why didn't your uncle come sooner, then ? " asked 
 Miriel. 
 
 " I don't know ; but one day when a letter came and 
 told him that somebody was dead, or gone away or some- 
 thing, he made up his mind to come. Are the ships coming 
 in here sometimes 1 " 
 
 " Oh, no," said Miriel, " they couldn't come over those 
 white breakers ; do you see those black rocks here and 
 there between them 1 there's a line of them there, and no 
 ships could cross them, they would be dashed to pieces." 
 
 " Dir anw'l ! " said Betta, with a look of disappointment. 
 
 " But they are passing out there on the bay and coming 
 in to Porthlidan, 'tis about a mile and a half down there 
 to the left." 
 
 " 'Tis all strange to me now," said Betta ; " but there's 
 lago calling me," and she ran up the hill, while Miriel 
 turned down to Doloer. Dui'ing the ensuing fortnight the 
 small events which accompany a flitting gradually settled 
 down to the usual peace and quietness that wrapped moor 
 and shore in their soft mantle, and Miriel was getting 
 accustomed to the presence of the newcomers so near to 
 her ; it was all very pleasant, it filled her life with new 
 thoughts and interests, but Doctor Dan had not been near 
 Doloer for a fortnight, and she had grown to look for his 
 visits as for those of a friend or relation, and many a wist- 
 ful look she cast towards the brow of the hill, but he did 
 not come again until the summer was a month older and 
 the hay was ripening fast ; that was over the brow of the 
 slope, where the broad green fields stretched away by wood 
 and valley to the blue hills in the distance eastwards ; there 
 the whetting of the scythe and the cooing of the wood
 
 84 ®n tbe Minos of tbc 1iain& 
 
 pigeons and the tufts of sorrel growing red in the ditches, 
 showed that hay harvest was near ; but over the slope 
 where Doloer lay, there was no sign of it, for tlie sea and 
 the shore were alike in summer or winter. Only, on the 
 slope, the daflEbdils had faded, the cowslips and orchids had 
 followed them, and these, too, had given place to the 
 golden marsh marigold and the bogbean, changes evident 
 only to the eyes that lo\angly note the courses of the 
 seasons. These eyes Mii-iel had, and for her, in con- 
 sequence, there was no sucl^ thing as a dull hour, nor that 
 heavy weariness which rusts away the spirits of those 
 whose sight is blinded to the ways of nature. 
 
 Henceforth the conditions of life at Doloer changed 
 completely. No day passed without a visit from either 
 Betta or lago ; the latter especially came upon any pre- 
 text, and stayed to look at Miricl with eyes in which a 
 dawning love showed plainly to all, except the girl herself. 
 She, perfectly unconscious, wont on her way serene and 
 happy, delighted with the companionship of the youth 
 and maiden who had so suddenly entered into the sphere 
 of her existence. 
 
 " Vone yr Hafod " never came, and Miriel chafed a little 
 at the stern though unexpressed prohibition which she felt 
 Doctor Dan imposed upon the newcomer. Silvan Vone 
 interested her, the first sight of him, standing alone in the 
 bare, unfurnished kitchen at Hafod y bryn, had impressed 
 her with a tender pity for the man who sighed when others 
 smiled and was sad when others were merry. 
 
 Doctor Dan was the only man of her acquaintance except, 
 indeed, Stivin Storrom, who certainly was not of a lachry- 
 mose nature. Doctor Dan she could not imagine harbouring 
 a weak sorrow or uttering a sigh. This man was different 
 somehow ; a weight of sorrow was upon him, and Miriel 
 longed to comfort him, but she dared not, would not, 
 extend to him the call to enter Doloer wliich she had 
 pressed upon lago and Betta. Often in the grey twilight
 
 flew ifden^s 85 
 
 she would see a greyer figure pass over the sands and dis- 
 appear amongst the shadows of the rocks, alone, with head 
 bent, as if in deep thought. 
 
 Betta and Miriel, too, haunted the shore ; in fact, at 
 every spare moment the girls drew towards each other, 
 Gwen's long sleeps giving Miriel many an hour of freedom. 
 With arms thrown over waist and shoulder, they paced the 
 shelly sands in the moonlight or starlight, for Betta's work 
 on the farm kept her busily engaged until sunset. lago 
 sometimes joined them, laughingly thrusting himself be- 
 tween them, and endeavouring to join them again by 
 slipping an arm round the waist of each. Betta made no 
 demur, but Miriel shyly withdrew, blushing a rosy pink, 
 un noticeable in the moonlight. 
 
 lago was by no means demonstrative. A repulse 
 sobered him at once, and it was then Miriel's turn by all 
 sorts of merry talk, and pretty devices, to restore him to 
 good spirits. 
 
 One night, when neither Betta nor lago could come to 
 the shore, Miriel roamed alone at the edge of the waves. 
 The wind had changed ! blowing softly down the slope, and 
 passing out to sea laden with suggestions of inland life, 
 which perhaps the sea-maidens listened to with the same 
 delight and interest with which Miriel listened to the 
 stories that the sea- wind bore upon its wings. 
 
 From over the hill came the smell of the newly-mown 
 hay, the monotonous call of the corncrake, the barking of 
 the farm dogs, to whom the full moon seemed objectionable, 
 the tinkle of a sheep bell far away in some sheltered fold, 
 and the bleating of Miriel's goats, who had lost each other 
 on the slope. 
 
 The spray of the waterfall from the mill stream, which 
 fell over the clifTs above her, wetted her face, and out 
 from the spray and the shadow came Vone yr Hafod 
 himself. 
 
 " You are out late, 'merch i," he said, for knowing of old
 
 86 ®n the Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 that Miriel was not born of peasant blood, neither he nor 
 his household addressed her with the familiar " thee " and 
 "thou." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, but the moon is so bright, 'tis like day." 
 
 "Not afraid to wander about here amongst the dark 
 rocks and ghostly shadows 1 " 
 
 " Oh, no ! what'll I be afraid of t To me it so like my 
 own home ; the rocks are my furniture, the cliffs are my 
 walls, the waterfall and those waving ferns are my pic- 
 tures, and the sea and sands are my floors." 
 
 " "Well, indeed, you have a large house whatever, and 'tis 
 a happy, merry spirit that is living in that house ; but to 
 me the place is mournful and lonely. See you there now, 
 the difference between the young and old 1 " 
 
 "Is it like that when you grow old 1 I am sorry, sorry 
 in my heart, and I wish I could take your sadness upon me 
 for a little bit, and put my happiness into you. There's a 
 pity we can't do that sometimes." 
 
 " I believe, child, you would do it if you could." 
 
 "That would I. lago and Betta are coming to sit by 
 the fire with us sometimes, and 'tis nice there when the 
 fire is flaming up in the evening, and Stivin Storrom is 
 coming in and telling us stories of long ago, and of storm 
 and shipwreck." 
 
 " Yes, 'merch i, 'tis very nice for you that have not lived 
 long in the world." 
 
 " Eighteen years is long enough to see much trouble in," 
 said Miriel. 
 
 "And what troubles have you seen?" asked Vone, as 
 they turned and retraced their footsteps across the beach. 
 
 " Well, 'twas sorrow to lose Nanti Matti, and 'twas 
 very bitter to see how cruel she was — to herself," continued 
 Miriel. " Oh, cruel and hard she was! the coarsest food, the 
 roughest clothes, never a pleasure for herself, but all for 
 me and Nanti Gwen ; and for her — the tears and the hard 
 living, and the lonely walks by herself on the shore, in the
 
 IRew jrtlen&s 87 
 
 night when the stars were shining. And Nanti Gwen is a 
 constant sorrow, for I know that once she was bright and 
 happy." 
 
 " And did Matti walk about this shore often and 
 alone ? " said Silvan Vone. " I told you, child, that the 
 place was full of ghosts." 
 
 His voice was tremulous and husky, and so low that 
 Miriel suddenly realised her words were gall and bitterness 
 to her companion. Wliy, why could she not ask the 
 forlorn man to come into the warmth and shelter of the 
 Doloer hearth. And when, after reaching home and having 
 seen him take his solitary way up the slope, she sat alone 
 by the fire, she evolved in her mind a plan which, if she 
 could carry it out, would leave her free to welcome Silvan 
 Vone at Doloer. 
 
 She would go to Tregarreg, she would brave the dangers 
 of the town, and finding Doctor Dan would gain his per- 
 mission to befriend the master of Hafod y bryn.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A WOMAN S WILL 
 
 Next day, however, brought the swinging gig once more to 
 the little gate, and from the top of the slope Vonc yr 
 Hafod watched the doctor enter the porch. 
 
 " Oh ! well, indeed ! " exclaimed jNIiriel, pleasure flashing 
 over her face and in her grey eyes. 
 
 Doctor Dan saw the bright look of greeting, and the 
 warmth of a long-absent feeling touched him with its wing. 
 A human heart to bound at his approach, a happy voice to 
 welcome him, were things that the lonely man had schooled 
 himself to do without for years, and his own heart opened 
 with a responsive bound to the unaccustomed sensation. 
 
 " Yes, here I am, child ! " he said, " and, at all events, I 
 see you are not afraid of me. I hope you have been a good 
 girl," he added, with a smile that belied his stern voice. 
 " Remember, I am the master now, and I must have a 
 well-ordered household ; " and he drew his chair to the 
 hearth, where a few sticks burnt for cheerfulness. 
 
 "I am not afraid of you, master," said Miriel, laughing, 
 ** I don't think I am afraid of anything — except thunder 
 and lightning, I am shocking afraiil of them ! " 
 
 " Such a wise little woman ! and afraid of thunder and 
 lightning ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said the girl. " I was born in a thunder, 
 storm, they say, and my mother died in the fright of it ; 
 perhaps that is why I am so afraid." 
 
 88
 
 H Moman's Mill 89 
 
 "Perhaps," said Doctor Dan, rightly interpreting the 
 strained look in the dilated pupils of the eyes as one of 
 real and not affected fear. 
 
 She was standing under the " Iwf wr " chimney, a little 
 nervously tying and untying the ribbon at her throat. 
 
 " What is it, Miriel ? " he asked. " I know you want to 
 say something." 
 
 "Only this, that I am wanting to do everything to 
 please you, because — because — you were Nanti Matti's 
 friend." 
 
 "And not yours also?" 
 
 "Yes, I hope indeed — but — I think you are forgetting 
 that I am not a child any longer. I am eighteen, you see, 
 and some things I must have my own way about, because I 
 have got my own thoughts about many things." 
 
 "So it seems," said Doctor Dan, both amused and 
 fascinated by the mixture of dignity and simplicity in her 
 speech, and not blind to the mantling colour and sparkling 
 eyes. " But you are mistaken, Miriel ! I am quite alive 
 to the fact that you are no longer a child, but a woman, 
 and a — " he had almost said "a beautiful woman," but 
 checked himself, and substituted " a wilful one." 
 
 Miriel nodded. 
 
 "And what rebellious thoughts are in your mind? Do 
 you want to leave Doloer and come and live in the town ? 
 or do you want to gather the apples before they are ripe ? 
 or perhaps change the leek bed into a flower border ? " 
 
 Miriel laughed, the happy, ringing laugh that seemed 
 to fill the house with brightness. 
 
 " No, indeed — not any of these foolish things ; but, 'tis 
 to ask Vone yr Hafod to come in here when he likes, 
 because 'tis making my heart ache to see him so lonely out 
 there by the waves when the fire is bright in here in 
 the evening, and — " but at this moment they were inter- 
 rupted by a step in the porch, followed immediately by the 
 entrance of a sturdy brown figure in a homespun suit of
 
 90 ®n tbe Minos of tbe mint) 
 
 country-made clothes. His open countenance, paler and 
 more thoughtful than that of the ordinary farm lad, was 
 brightened by a pair of lustrous dark eyes which smiled 
 more often than the sober, clear-cut lips. 
 
 " Miriel ! " he called as he entered, " have you seen our 
 ' Megen ' about the slope ? She has strayed from the field, 
 and I have hunted for her almost as far as Porthlidan," 
 then catching sight of Doctor Dan, he stammered and 
 coloured, while Miriel, also a little confused, blushed as she 
 answered his inquiries. 
 
 " I haven't seen her, indeed, but she's most likely gone 
 over the hill to the Sarneithin cows." 
 
 " Perhaps ; I will go that way," and he turned rather 
 hurriedly towards the door, with a nod of acknowledgment 
 towards Doctor Dan, meant in country fashion as a sort of 
 apology for his rather abrupt entrance. 
 
 Doctor Dan, however, only knit his dark brows and 
 looked inquiringly towards Miriel. 
 
 " That is lago 'r Hafod," she explained, as the young 
 man's voice reached them from the slope, calling, " Trwdi 
 fach ! trwdi ! " till his voice died away in the distance. 
 
 She saw at a glance that something had displeased her 
 visitor. 
 
 " Oh ! lago 'r Hafod ! " he said, " and does he often 
 come bouncing in here like that 1 " 
 
 " Well, yes," said Miriel, " he's coming very often, and 
 what harm is he doing ? 'Tis very nice for him to come ', 
 and Betta, oh ! Betta, I love so much ! I would break my 
 heart without her now." 
 
 Doctor Dan rose and looked out through the window to 
 the shore and sea, pondering deeply before he answered. 
 He seemed strangely disturbed, and, without alluding 
 further to the young man's hurried visit, resumed the 
 conversation that had been so suddenly interrupted. 
 
 " You were speaking about his father before he came 
 in— "
 
 I-l Moman's Mill 91 
 
 " Yes. Will you be angry if I ask him to come into 
 Doloer sometimes ? " 
 
 " Miriel, you have reminded me that you are a woman, if 
 I wanted reminding, and I will answer you as a woman — 
 No, I will not be angry, I have no right to be, for I do not 
 Bee how you can do otherwise, since you allow his son 
 to come in and out when he pleases ; but I wish to God he 
 had never returned to this neighbourhood, I wish you had 
 never seen him, or his family ! " and Miriel thought she 
 detected a tremble in his voice. 
 
 "Well, then, I will never ask him," she said; "but 
 I have spoken to him about it, and now if he comes some 
 day, what will I do ? I cannot thrust him out again." 
 
 " No," said the doctor, " you cannot. Let him come, 
 we cannot fight against fate — but, Miriel ! once again I bid 
 you beware of Silvan Vaughan ! I cannot stay longer this 
 morning, I have to drive six miles further up the bay." 
 
 Miriel's face fell. 
 
 *' Oh, there's sorry I am ! Will you come again soon ? " 
 
 " Well, you have plenty of friends now, you are not 
 likely to forget how to talk, as you feared some time 
 ago, but if I can I will come again before long." 
 
 She stood at the porch some time, shading her eyes from 
 the sun and looking after him as he drove away with doubt 
 and uneasiness filling his mind. " What," he thought, 
 ♦' was this strange fate that ever thrust Silvan Vaughan 
 across his path 1 " This secluded household left in his 
 charge, why did the shadow of his enemy loom so heavily 
 near it 1 What would be his wisest path 1 He saw that to 
 separate Miriel by force from her new companions would 
 be impossible, for he had a strong suspicion that in her 
 sunny temperament there lurked a strength of will which 
 he would find hard to combat, and for this he did not 
 blame her ; a limp, weak character would have been a 
 heavier charge upon him. A woman's will was proverbial ; 
 ■what, then, would be his wisest course? To add to his
 
 92 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MinO 
 
 disquietude, there rose before his mental vision the image 
 of Miriel as she had stood hesitating and nervous under the 
 heavy chimney, but withal firm with all the dignity of her 
 eighteen years. " What will I do, then ? " Nay ! he could 
 not find it in his heart to thwart her. A woman ! yes, he 
 knew it, he required no reminding. They had reached 
 a steep ascent, and, throwing the reins to Deio, he alighted 
 and walked up the hill, chafing under his unspoken 
 thoughts, and feeling that exercise in the fresh sea air 
 might calm his spirit. On tbe side of the dry and dusty 
 road a patch of white clover smiled up at the sun, and, 
 stooping, he gathered a few of the pale, waxen flowers, 
 looking at them long and with a smile of admiration. 
 " Like Miriel ! " he said. " Indeed, yes ! The creamy 
 white, the rosy shade of dawn at the base ! and growing 
 here unnoticed and unknown. And its perfume so sweet, 
 so delicate. Yes, Miriel, little white clover ! you have 
 slipped into womanhood while I thought you were a child," 
 and, placing the pale blossoms in his button-hole, he came 
 up with Deio as he reached the top of the hill. 
 
 "It's the first time I see you do that this long time," 
 said Deio, surprised out of his usual stolidity. 
 
 '* Do what 1 " said his master, reddening a little. 
 
 " Put a flower in your coat ; but 'tis pity you got no 
 better ! " 
 
 " 'Tis a long time since I saw such a sweet flower," said 
 Doctor Dan, preparing to get into the gig ; but before he 
 could do so a gateway close beside him opened, and out of 
 it came Silvan Vaughan. The two men stood face to face 
 under the broad noonday sun, and for a moment both were 
 embarrassed. Vone yr Hafod was the first to break the 
 silence, as he saw Doctor Dan prepare to pass on without 
 speaking. 
 
 "Stop a moment," he said, with a catch in his breath ; 
 " stop a moment, man, for mercy's sake ! I have longed, 
 though I have dreaded, to speak to you for many years,
 
 H MomaiVs Mill 93 
 
 but they have passed on and I have never seen you except 
 for that moment at Tim Scrivenwr's." 
 
 "What do you want of mcl" asked the doctor, a 
 shadow as of a thunder-cloud falling on his face. " What 
 conversation can there be between you and me ? " 
 
 " What do I want 1 " said Silvan Vaughan. " Not your 
 forgiveness, Dan — not that — I cannot expect that, and I 
 do not." 
 
 " That's well," said the doctor. " Let me pass on, then 
 there can be nothing more between you and me." 
 
 " Yes, there is, and I will not lose this chance, for well 
 I know that I am not long for this world. You know it, 
 too, so listen for a moment with the pity that you would 
 accord a dying man. I only want to tell you, Dan, of my 
 bitter repentance. I want you to know that every hour of 
 my life has been a burden to me for the last fifteen years ; 
 that I would give all I possess — more, my very life — to undo 
 the evil that I have done, but that is impossible ! " 
 
 " Yes," said the doctor, and that was all he did say. 
 
 " Do you believe that I am truly repentant, Dan ? " 
 
 " No doubt you are. I don't see how you could be 
 otherwise." 
 
 " Then I am satisfied. I cannot expect anything more 
 — but one thing — give me permission to enter that house," 
 and he pointed down towards Doloer. " You know, or let 
 me tell you now, that in spite of all my misdeeds Gwen 
 Lloyd was the only woman I ever truly loved. What 
 madness attracted me to Matti I cannot tell. Does God 
 ever abandon us to the possession of an evil spirit ? " 
 
 " Don't talk about evil spirits," said Doctor Dan, im- 
 patiently. " Your own evil passions were enough. And 
 what do you mean by asking my permission to enter that 
 house ? I am not your guardian, nor theirs who live there ; 
 but, for the sake of a promise to the dead, I will keep 
 watch over them and, if needs be, I will tell that innocent 
 girl the whole story of your villainy and treachery."
 
 94 ©n tbe mUxQS ot tbe Mint) 
 
 "So be it, then," said Silvan Vaughan; " 'twill be part 
 of my punishment. But I cannot see the necessity for 
 sullying her young mind by telling her such a story. God 
 knows ! I would not injure her. I only want to see Gwen, 
 to hear her voice once more. I know her reason has fled, 
 but still I long to see her. My boy is often in and out of 
 the house, but I am determined not to go without your 
 consent. Dan ! I see by your face that you are relentless 
 and hai'd as adamant, but remember the day will come 
 when you, too, will want forgiveness." 
 
 " That is my own affair," said Doctor Dan. " I will not 
 tell a lie and say I forgive you. Silvan Vaughan, for I do 
 not — cannot yet. Go to Doloer when you please, and see 
 the ruin you have worked. I will make no objection, but 
 remember I have promised to keep watch over those two 
 friendless women, and I will keep my promise. Have you 
 anything more to ask me ? " 
 
 " Nothing," said Silvan Vaughan, while the doctor 
 stepped into his gig and drove up the hill, stopping at the 
 summit to give Samson a rest and to take a look back at 
 the view, as usual. 
 
 He was surprised to see no sign of his late companion. 
 What could have become of him ? He could not liave 
 reached Doloer, for he did not look like running, 
 thought the doctor, as he called to mind how white his 
 face had become while he was talking and how blue his 
 lips. 
 
 " Well, let him go to the devil ! and the devil will get 
 his own," he said, as he whipped up Samson, and Deio 
 turned round in surprise and looked at his master. 
 
 " What is that on the ground behind yon furze bush 1 " 
 he exclaimed. " Dei anw'l, 'tis a man ! " 
 
 "A man?" said the doctor, looking round and seeing 
 what before had escaped his notice — a grey figure lying 
 prone upon the grass. In a moment the medical instinct 
 banished all other feelings.
 
 H Tlllloman's Mill 95 
 
 " Bring the gig down," he called to Deio, while he ran 
 down the green sward. 
 
 Yes, true enough. It was Silvan Vaaghan lying there, 
 with closed eyes and blue lips, his pale face brushed by the 
 grasses that waved in the wind, 
 
 "Is he dead?" asked Deio, alighting and stooping over 
 the prostrate form. 
 
 The doctor felt his heart. " No," he answered, a little 
 pity stirring witliin him for his fallen enemy. " Give me 
 that flask of brandy," and pouring a little between the blue 
 lips the man revived, opening his eyes and fixing them 
 with a dull stare upon the doctor, who chafed his hands 
 and raised his head from the ground. Gradually the heart 
 beat more regularly, the pulse grew stronger and a faint 
 colour tinged the ashen cheeks. 
 
 " He'll do now," said the doctor, " but we cannot leave 
 him here " ; and together they lifted him into the gig, 
 where Deio supported him while Doctor Dan led the horse 
 by the bridle towards Hafod y bryn. 
 
 At the doorway he was met by lago, and Betta came 
 running in from the clos. 
 
 " Oh ! N'wncwl Sil, what is it?" she cried. 
 
 lago said nothing, but helped Deio to lift out the 
 listless figure. To neither of them were these seizures 
 familiar. 
 
 " Father anw'l ! " said lago, as he helped the dragging 
 footsteps over the doorstep, and Doctor Dan winced at the 
 tender words, the home love, which greeted this perfidious 
 friend, who had made his life desolate and barren. 
 
 "It is a faint," he said, turning to the young man, as 
 together they laid Silvan Vaughan upon one of the cup- 
 board beds. " He's reviving now, and to-morrow he will 
 be all right," and with a few parting directions he turned 
 to the doorway and got into his gig, leaving Betta bending 
 over the invalid with sympathising words and touches. 
 
 " You will come again to-morrow, I hope ? " said lago,
 
 96 ©n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 following liim into the clos. " I have never seen my father 
 like this ; not so bad whatever." 
 
 " He had a bad attack at Tregarreg," said the doctor 
 flipping the flies off the horse's ears and considering. " I 
 don't think there will be any necessity for me to come 
 again, but should there be, send up to Sarneithin — I shall 
 be there every day for some time " ; and he drove away, 
 while lago, returning to the box bed, wondered what 
 should make the doctor so abrupt and unsympathetic. 
 " Is that the way he is at all sick beds, I wonder 1 Tan 1 
 marw ! I would close the panels before he should stand at 
 mine." And then he went to attend to his father's wants, 
 to smooth the pillows, to chafe the hands, to speak the 
 words of cheer and love which are more than medicine to 
 the sick and sorrowful. 
 
 In a few days Silvan Vaughan was about again, and 
 astonished Miriel one day by entering the porch at Dolocr ; 
 he did not cross the threshold, but stood a moment in the 
 sunshine, his shadow falling upon the floor and apprising 
 her of his presence. 
 
 " Oh, Vone ! is it you?" she said, a little embarrassed. 
 
 "Yes, I asked Doctor Dan's leave to come and see 
 you, 'merch i, and he granted it, so now I hope you will be 
 willing too." 
 
 "Yes, indeed, and glad." 
 
 Once more a wave of pity rose in Miriel's heart for the 
 shrinking, humble tones of the man who counted so many 
 more years than she did. 
 
 " Come in," she said, " and sit here under the chimney. 
 That is Nanti Gwen's chair, you must not sit on that." 
 
 " No, no, this bench will do," said her visitor. " Go you 
 on with your work, I will not disturb you ; only, as I told 
 Dan Grifiiths, I would like to see your aunt once more. I 
 know from lago that she is sleeping every afternoon ; but 
 she will come in here by-and-by ? " 
 
 "When I fetch her to tea."
 
 H Moman's Mill 97 
 
 "We were friends once." 
 
 "Yes, I think, indeed." 
 
 " Why do you think so 1 " 
 
 ** Because 'tis your name that quiets her always when shs 
 is restless. Nanti Matti used to go to the door at those 
 times, and pretend to look out to sea, and always the same 
 words she would say — 'Oh, here's the Hawk sailing into 
 the bay, and here's Silvan Vaughan coming up the shore.' 
 Then Nanti Gwen would grow calm at once, but Nanti 
 Matti used to turn pale. I don't know what happened long 
 ago between you all, but I know there was trouble and 
 sorrow ; but now, now when we are living so peaceful here, 
 I wish you could all forget the past and be happy in the 
 present," 
 
 Silvan Vone had risen, and, turning to the window, he 
 looked long over the sea before he sat down again ; he did 
 not allude further to Miriel's words, but continued to sit 
 musing in the chimney corner, making an occasional remark 
 as the girl passed backwards and forwards at her work, 
 until the afternoon waned and the tea hour was 
 approaching. 
 
 "Will you stop and have tea with usl" she said, for 
 hospitality was a natural though new delight to her. "I 
 am going to fetch Nanti Gwen ; it is time." 
 
 " No, no, 'merch i " said Vone ; " but one thing I would 
 like. I-et me stand behind this settle and see her, I can slip 
 out from here without her seeing me ; " and he placed him- 
 self behind the settle, while Miriel passed in through the 
 thick black door with its quaint thumb latch. 
 
 Presently he heard the light, firm step of the girl return- 
 ing, and with it a slower step, though not heavier, and 
 out through the old oak doorway came Gwen Lloyd, her 
 graceful, willowy figure bending a little as she leant on 
 Miriel's arm. Her black dress was relieved only by a 
 kerchief of lace tied at the throat and raffles of the same 
 old lace hung over her delicate white hands. Her hair, 
 
 a
 
 98 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 abundant and wavy, was coiled above her white forehead by 
 Miriel's deft fingers, and she made a strange and beautiful 
 picture as she approached through the old doorway. 
 
 A shudder ran throu<;h Silvan Vone's frame as he watched 
 her passing him, led gently by Miriel to her chair, in which 
 she seated herself silently, her blue eyes fixed dreamily on 
 the vacant space before her. Almost immediately she com- 
 menced her invisible work, drawing the thread towards her, 
 letting it slip again through her white fingers, and whisper- 
 ing in a flow of rapid and incoherent words. It was a 
 moment of anguish to the watcher who stood there, almost 
 as pale as Gwen herself; the memories of the past rushed 
 into his mind, the bitter fruition of his cruel perfidy weighed 
 down his heart, and, feeling that he dared not prolong the 
 endurance, he slipped quietly out, and walked away towards 
 the shore, where through the little window Miricl saw him 
 long pacing backwards and forwards at the edge of the tide. 
 After this he was a frequent visitor to Doloer, and in the 
 afternoon when the household work was done, and a soft 
 silence brooded over the old house, broken only by the 
 ticking of the clock or the clucking of the fowls in the 
 cwrt, she learnt to wait for the company of the sad and 
 silent man, who seemed to find some strange sulace on her 
 quiet hearth. 
 
 The evenings often brought him again to Doloer, accom- 
 panied by Betta and lago, and when the moon rose, her 
 light and that of the leaping flames from the peat and logs 
 on the hearth alone illuminating the r.-om, Stivin and Mali 
 often joined the group, though keeping modestly a little in 
 the background. At such times the former was in his 
 element, and king of the company ; for that red head of his 
 \ras crammed full of old tales and legends, stories of ship 
 wreck, of haunted houses, of ghosts and murders. He 
 poured them all forth to entertain the little party gathered 
 under the Iwfwr chimney, where Tago's dark eyes followed 
 Miriel's every movement with interest.
 
 H Momati'6 Mill 99 
 
 "I saw Doctor Dan to-day," he said one night as he 
 whittled a spoon he was carving. 
 
 " Where 1 " asked Miriel, a little strained look coming over 
 her face. 
 
 " At Porthlidan he was. In my deed ! I think he looked 
 blacker than usual when he saw me, though I don't know 
 why. He is a fine man and no mistake ! and that dark face 
 of his makes one think of the warriors of old who fought so 
 bravely in Cwnirhyfel. I came home that way after seeing 
 him and thought I could hear the clash of the swords and 
 the shouts of the chieftains, and what was it but the sea 
 wind and the sound of the waves coming up through the 
 narrow pass where the river runs down." 
 
 •' Well, indeed, lago ! You arc a bard, I think," said 
 Miriel. 
 
 "Yes, didn't you know that?" said Betta. "He is writing 
 verses often, and sending them to the Teithiwr — yes, 
 indeed, and they are beautiful. That's what he is wanting 
 at Porthlidan so often, is to send a letter or expecting one 
 from the Teilhitvr." 
 
 " Hold thy peace, Betta ! Wasn't it to fetch red wool for 
 thee I went to-day ] " 
 
 " lago a bard ! " said Miricil, with round, open eyes. " I 
 thought they were always old and grey." 
 
 "Have patience, lass! " said lago, "and I will be that, 
 whatever ! " 
 
 " Oh ! tell me some of his rhymes. lago, say then some of 
 your verses ! " but he could not be persuaded to comply with 
 her request. 
 
 " Some day, perhaps," was all he would promise. 
 
 "That was pretty well last week in the Teithiivr," said 
 his father. 
 
 "Did you see it then, father? I didn't think you would 
 be caring for the poetry page." 
 
 " I sometimes scan it over," said his father, in a tone of 
 indiiTerence, though, if the truth were told, he was proud
 
 roo ®n tbe Mtnos of tbe Min& 
 
 of his son's literary effusions, and always searched for them 
 in the weekly paper. 
 
 " Oh ! now I remember a little of it," said Betta, while 
 lago tried in vain to silence her. 
 
 " 'Tis like this :— 
 
 •" Oh ! bird of the silken wing t 
 
 Oh, thou of the Kilver tongue ! 
 Wilt open thy golden beak and sing 
 A rhyme that my heart has strung.'" 
 
 Miriel clasped her hands. " 'Tis beatuiful, go on ! " 
 " I can't remember more," said Betta. " He is saying 
 next, that her eyes are grey like the sky before the sunrise, 
 that her face is pink like the rose, and her hair is gold as 
 the bloom of the broom — so the bird finds out, 'tis the 
 dawn he is meaning, and his answer is something like 
 this : — 
 
 " ' No, I will not carry your message to her. 
 Because I love her myself ; 
 And I sing to her out of my golden beak, 
 And I tell her my own heart's love ! ' " 
 
 " "Well, indeed ! " was all Miriel's reply ; but when the 
 group had broken up for the night, and she was left alone 
 on the hearth, she fell into a fit of musing, from which she 
 awoke at last with a sigh and the words, — 
 
 " lago is full of beautiful thoughts and good, what- 
 ever ! "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE PAIR 
 
 Summer had come in all her regal beauty, and was 
 reigning supreme over the green world lying content and 
 lazy under sun and moon, for behold ! here was the 
 fruition of all her endeavours. The fields were full of 
 ripening crops, the hedges decked with garlands of flowers ; 
 on the banks the grasshopper chirped, in the pools the 
 frogs croaked, and in the bushes the birds vied with each 
 other in filling the luscious air with melody. On the 
 slope of the moor, where the primroses and orchids had 
 held their own for a time, the cowslips had bloomed and 
 danced their little lives out in the sunshine, and now the 
 soft green sward had been given over to the daisies and 
 buttercups which thickly starred its hollows and hillocks. 
 Amongst them. Kit and Brythen roamed all day, often 
 straying, however, to the Hafod fields, out of sheer mis- 
 chief, Miriel declared, for when she had tethered them 
 there once, they had bleated through " the long white 
 day." When the shadows began to lengthen, they turned 
 their horns towards Doloer, and browsed their way home- 
 wards, until Miriel appeared carrying her stool and milk- 
 ing-pail, when they would race towards her and make a 
 feint of butting, until called to order by a tap of the stool. 
 Always she sang as she milked her goats, " Llwyn On " or 
 " Merch Megan," and often lago, hearing her voice, would 
 run down, joining his bass to the tune, and watching the 
 milk frothing into the pail. Betta was too busy to come 
 
 lOI
 
 I02 ®n tbe mims of tbe Wiint) 
 
 till later, for a man and a maid-servant had been hired for 
 the farm, and her superintendence seemed more required 
 than ever. 
 
 *"Tis Fair Haf * to-morrow, Miriel,"said lago, nervously 
 plucking at the buttercups. 
 
 '* Yes ! I saw in the almanac," answered the girl, with- 
 out breaking the rhythm of the milking. " But what is 
 that to me, lago bach 1 I have never been to a fair, never 
 even so far as the country beyond the top there ; I don't 
 know more about the world than Kit or Brythen." 
 
 " Well ! come with us to-morrow ! Betta and I are 
 going. Come, lass ! I care not to go without you ! " 
 
 " There," said Miriel, rising, " 'tis a good bowlful what- 
 ever. Me ! come to the fair ! Oh ! there's nonsense ! 
 Tell Betta to bring me a fairing ! " 
 
 She was beginning to find out her power over the bai-d, 
 and to enjoy it with a mischievous wilfulness. 
 
 "Nay, come, Miriel," he besought. 
 
 " What for, then ? What will Nanti Gwen do without 
 me?" 
 
 " Mali and Stivin are not going, they will take care of 
 her." 
 
 "But I am not grand enough to go to the fair. My straw 
 hat is burnt with the sun, and my jacket is three years 
 old. The girls will laugh at me." 
 
 " Miriel," said lago, " whatever you wear, you will be 
 the fairest lass in the fair." 
 
 "Twt! twt ! " said Miriel, blushing, but not resenting 
 the compliment. 
 
 lago's homage was not without its charms for her, for 
 although the admiration of the sterner sex was a thing 
 entirely new and strange to her, still, with a woman's 
 nature, she took to it as a duck takes to the water, and 
 the result of Betta's and lago's entreaties, added to 
 Mali's and Stivin's promises of care and watchfulness, 
 
 * Summer Fair.
 
 Ube fait 103 
 
 was tliat, next day, the car drove out of the Hafod clos 
 filled with a happy trio : Betta with her sparkling black 
 eyes and cherry lips, lago with his thoughtful face, and 
 Miriel full of excitement at the unwonted delights that 
 awaited her ; over them, a cloudless sky. 
 
 The mowers stood up to look at them as they passed 
 down through the leafy lanes, where the cuckoos called to 
 each other, where the white stellaria and the blue veronica 
 starred the hedge sides. The wild June roses stretched 
 their trailing branches towards them, the elder flowers fell 
 over them in showers, and to those blithe and happy hearts 
 life seemed a chalice full of richest joy. It was good to 
 live ! with the fresh sea wind behind them, the soft country 
 air around them laden with the perfumes of summer, to say 
 nothing of the prospect of the fair, which, to one at least, 
 was full of the charm of novelty. 
 
 " Oh ! there's beautiful the country is," said Miriel. 
 " Wei wyr ! I thought I would never like anything so 
 well as the shore and the sea, but here it is like my 
 dreams." 
 
 " Yes ! " said Betta. " It is beautiful for a little while, 
 but for always 'tis the sea I like." 
 
 "Thee, too, Betta?" said lago. "Well! 'tis a good 
 thing as thee'st come to live at Hafod ; but see, Miriel, 
 there in the blue of the valley, a little cloud of smoke and 
 the white of the houses ! that is Tregarreg." 
 
 " Tregarreg ! indeed, is it that? and there's low down in 
 the valley it seems." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis a steep hill down to the town, but Nero is a 
 safe horse and I have a strong wrist." He was proud of 
 his driving, and to-day he was proud of the whole turn-out. 
 He had sat up till twelve the previous night shining up 
 the harness and burnishing the brass buckles and chains, 
 and certainly, as they turned into the yard of the " Crown " 
 Inn, few people would have failed to notice the sleek 
 black horse, with its brilliant harness and its load of youth
 
 104 m tbe Minos ot tbe Mtn& 
 
 and beauty. As they crossed the bridge under which the 
 broad Lidan fretted and fumed, Miriel longed to ask where 
 Doctor Dan lived, but a strange shyness made her very reti- 
 cent regarding her guardian, in the presence of theVonesthat 
 is, for a subtle instinct made her aware that some unkindly 
 episode in their past lives still threw its shadow between 
 them, so she was silent as she and Betta followed lago's 
 broad elbows through the crowded fair, past the booths, 
 "the shows," the brass band that announced the attractions 
 of the circus. The good-humoured hustling, the merry 
 laughter, and the loud jokes of the country lads enveloped 
 Miriel in a cloud of delight. All day she and her com- 
 panions roamed the fair, until in the afternoon Betta and 
 lago, having some farm implement to buy, left her at the 
 corner of the market-place, bidding her meet them at the 
 " Crown " by eight in the evening. 
 
 " Four long hours ! but they will be short to me, for I 
 never saw such wonders ; go you to buy the churn, I will 
 be quite happy," and, left alone, she began to look around 
 her with interest. Here were a knot of girls whose swains 
 were inviting them into the " Swan " parlour, at the open 
 windows of which sat other couples of amorous rustics, 
 enjoying their gingerbread and ale. The loud laughter 
 and the coarse jokes rather frightened her, so rshe turned 
 away to a quieter corner, where, sitting amongst her pin- 
 cushions, she came upon Peggi Doll. Miriel stopped to 
 examine the brilliant array, and stood some time looking at 
 them, in reality gazing in astonishment at their curious, 
 crabbed little vendor. What a dreadful, pitiful object ! 
 she thought, and wondered did the town hold many such 
 malformations ! She had unconsciously taken up and 
 replaced two or three pincushions, and was startled when 
 a croaking voice addressed her. 
 
 " Enough sorting ! " said the old woman. " If you want 
 one, take one ; if not, move further away, you are keeping 
 tbe sun from me."
 
 Tlbe fair 105 
 
 " Oh ! I beg your pardon," said Miriel ; " I will have 
 these two," and she timidly paid the price into the little 
 claw that was held out for it, and not only for the money, 
 for Peggi Doll clutched at the girl's hand, and, drawing 
 her a little nearer, peered into her face as well as her 
 crooked neck permitted her to do. 
 
 " Who are you ? " she said. " I saw you coming in 
 behind Vone yr Hafod's black horse." 
 
 " Yes ; I am Miriel Lloyd, of Doloer, and 'twas Vone yr 
 Hafod's son and his niece were driving," said the girl, 
 drawing her hand away from the old woman's clutch. 
 
 "What? Matti Lloyd's niece in company with Silvan 
 Vaughan's son ! " and she laughed, the harsh, grating 
 laugh that was new to Miriel, and very unpleasant. 
 " Well, indeed ! You will go the same way as your aunt, 
 perhaps ; 'tis well to have a good example to follow," and 
 again came the harsh, discordant laugh which irritated 
 Miriel; this time it also roused her anger, and, drawing 
 herself up with a flush of pride, she said, — 
 
 " If I can follow my aunt, and reach where she has 
 gone, I will be a happy woman," and she turned away 
 indignantly, with an undefined dread of hearing she knew 
 not what from this deformed cripple. Walking hurriedly 
 away, and still hearing Peggi Doll's malicious laugh, she 
 was startled by a hand laid on her shoulder. 
 
 " Miriel," said a voice of peculiarly pleasant inflection, 
 and she turned round to see Doctor Dan looking at her 
 with a smile of surprise lighting up his dark face. " Where 
 have you come from, child 1 " 
 
 " Oh, master ! there's glad I am to see you ! I have 
 come to the fair with lago and Betta, and I was thinking 
 it was all as beautiful as a dream till I saw that old witch 
 in the corner over there. Oh ! 'tis pity to see her." 
 
 "Yes, little vixen!" said the doctor; "and she is as 
 crooked within as without, I think. What did she say ? " 
 he asked, with a little uneasiness.
 
 io6 ®u tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 " Oh ! I bought two pincushions and she bid me 
 
 move on." 
 
 " Well," said the doctor, relieved, " have you seen 
 enough of the fair?" 
 
 " Yes, for to-day ; but, indeed, I will be wanting to come 
 again, I think." 
 
 "Well, come with me and I will show you something 
 different." And she resigned herself to his guidance with 
 a feeling of happy confidence. 
 
 " First we will go to the 'Crown,'" he said, "and leave 
 word for your friends to call for you when they pass ; and 
 now, this way." And they turned away from the busy 
 crowd, and, passing through a rickety gateway, found 
 themselves treading the soft velvet turf of a green knoll, 
 whose steep sides sloped down to the river's edge, the silver 
 Lidan, which wound its course around the ruins of an old 
 castle that crowned the knoll, its frowning walls top-heavy 
 with the clumps of ivy that had grown there undisturbed 
 for many a century. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis the old castle that I have heard about," said 
 Miriel. " Is it very old ? Who built it, then ? Who were 
 the people that lived in it 1 " 
 
 "Oh! stop a bit," said the doctor, "one question at a 
 time ! It is very old, no one knows exactly m hen it was 
 first built ; it has come to ruins and been rebuilt several 
 times, but was a ruin like this in the time of my grand- 
 father's grandfather, before that some parts were in- 
 habited ; two pretty sisters lived in it, for whose sake 
 many an ode was written and many a challenge was sent ; 
 but, above all, Miriel, what I wanted to show you was the 
 river. From this high mound we can see how it curves 
 three times around these castle walls." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Miriel, "as if it loved its meadows 
 and was unwilling to pass on." 
 
 " Well, yes, perhaps, but I am no bard ; it does pass on, 
 however, as I will show you by-and-by from Hendyrafon."
 
 Zhc jfalc 107 
 
 " Oh ! will we go there?" asked the girl. " I was want- 
 ing to know where it was, but I didn't like to ask." 
 
 " Why not 1 " said the doctor, standing still and looking 
 straight into her grey eyes. " Why not, child 1 " 
 
 " I don't know," said Miriel, a hot blush rising to her 
 face. 
 
 " Yes, you must know ! Why not, Miriel 1 " he asked 
 again, still keeping his eyes fixed upon the girl's; hers 
 gradually lowered before his searching gaze. 
 
 " Well, I think because I am afraid that something is 
 making you hate the people at Hafod y bryn, and some- 
 thing is hanging between them and you, and so — " 
 
 "Poor little girl!" said the doctor, "and so you kept 
 your simple question to yourself, and your curiosity went 
 unsatisfied, and all because of a dark blot with which you 
 have nothing to do. It shall not bo so any longer, child ; 
 I will not be the one to cast a shadow on your young life. 
 Come, let us forget the past from this evening ! When 
 you have looked long enough at that old ruin, and at that 
 winding river, we will go back through the fair." 
 
 "Well, I am ready," said Miriel. "But, indeed, if I 
 lived at Tregarreg, 'tis many an hour I would spend with 
 these old walls. Oh ! there's soft the grass is ; there's dark 
 the ivy is ; and the sound of the river all the time in your 
 ears — 'tis beautiful ! " 
 
 " Yes, that fall over the weir adds music to the scene. 
 'Tis to me like the sound of the sea to you, Miriel, it has 
 ever been in my ears, I was born in it, and I hope I may 
 die in it." 
 
 They had reached the hustling, noisy throng once more, 
 not quite so tightly packed as it had been, for the shadows 
 vere lengthening and the sun was nearing the edge of those 
 trees in the west. The gingerbread-women were packing 
 up their wares ; the lads, with their pockets empty, and 
 the lasses with their handkerchiefs full of fairings, began 
 their way towards the country roads ; the booths and
 
 .io8 ®n tbe Minos ot tbe Minb 
 
 " standings " were being dismantled, and the whole scene 
 was one whose glories were fading away with the end of 
 the day and whose hours were numbered. 
 
 But to Miriel everything was new and everything was 
 wonderful. —Her exclamations of delight amused and 
 interested her companion so much, that those who had 
 formerly remarked upon the change in Doctor Dan need 
 no longer have done so. 
 
 " There's merry he used to be ! Such a sparkle in his 
 eye, and his white teeth so ready to show ! " This descrip- 
 tion might well have suited him still as he piloted his 
 charge through the busy fair. 
 
 " Betti ! " he called, as he led the way through the dark, 
 uneven passage into the long, low room, which was parlour 
 and study combined, and Betti Luke came bustling out 
 from some crooked kitchen or pantry, her wooden shoes 
 clattering noisily on the stone floor. When she saw Miriel 
 she slipped them off her feet, not out of respect for the 
 visitor, whom she took for a patient, but just to show 
 " that she knew manners " and what was due to her 
 service at Hendyrafon. 
 
 " 'Tis not a patient, Betti," explained the doctor, " but 
 a visitor we've got this evening. 'Tis Miriel Lloyd, from 
 Doloer." 
 
 " Wei b'tshwr ! " said Betti ; " come in, 'merch 1, I am 
 glad to see you, dir anw'l, I knew your — " 
 
 " Chut ! chut ! " said the doctor, " we have just decided, 
 Miriel and I, to forget the past, so none of your * I re- 
 members ' to-night, Betti, but get you the tea ready while 
 Miriel sits down in my armchair and rests a bit. Now, 
 your best loaf, some fresh butter and cream, and something 
 sweet for the child." 
 
 Here Miriel burst out laughing ; such a laugh as had 
 not been heard within those walls for many a long 
 year. 
 
 " The child, indeed ! " said the girl ; " where's my pina-
 
 Ube ifair 109 
 
 fore then, and my doll to play with 1 " Doctor Dan laughed 
 too, though he scarcely knew why. 
 
 " Well, I will eat the sweets," he whispered ; " 'twas an 
 excuse, because I like them myself." 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed ! " said Miriel, with a suddenly serious 
 expression. " 'Tis because I am so ignorant that you are 
 thinking me a child. Nanti Matti tried to teach me many 
 things, but she failed, and I am still very, very ignorant." 
 
 " Ignorant ? " said the doctor, while he cleared away his 
 books and papers from the table. " Well, I don't know ; 
 but she taught you one thing, at all events, Miriel, and 
 that is to think, and that is worth more than knowledge 
 itself." 
 
 " Clovares in your coat ? " said Miriel, suddenly observ- 
 ing them. 
 
 " Yes, I love their fair creamy blossoms more than any 
 other flowers. You cannot guess why, Miriel ! " 
 
 " No, indeed ; will you tell me ? " 
 
 " M-m-m no," said the doctor, " I think not." 
 
 " Some day, perhaps 1 " 
 
 A hot flush spread over his face, as he hesitated and 
 sought for an answer, but finding none, he repeated her 
 words — " Some day, perhaps," and Miriel, attributing his 
 disturbed manner to some old memoi*ies connected with 
 Matti, said no more, but changed the subject. 
 
 " Oh ! here's a dear old room ! " said the girl, looking 
 round at the bookshelves, the quaint old grate and the 
 broad, latticed window. 
 
 " Yes, 'tis home to me. And now, look out ! " and he 
 turned his chair towards the window. Before it the Lidan 
 was flowing rapidly towards the west, its tumbling, tossing 
 waters catching the crimson and gold of the sunset on its 
 foam and spray, as it rushed through the narrow gorge 
 under the window ; then it lisped and trickled through the 
 pebbles of a tiny strand, over which the spreading sycamores 
 in the hedge of the long garden at Hendyrafon hung their
 
 no ®n tbe uminos of the Timin& 
 
 sheltering boughs. Two or three coracles used for the 
 salmon fishing were moored upon the little strand ; over- 
 head in the pale evening sky a company of rooks were 
 flapping lazily down to the dark elms which marked the 
 bend of the river. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis beautiful," said Miriel again ; " 'tis no wonder 
 that you are not coming often to Doloer. 'Tis lonely there 
 sometimes, but, indeed, not often now ; Betta is often 
 coming to see me, and we are singing together in the 
 evenings, and Stivin Storrom is telling stories to us." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said the doctor ; " it must make"a differ- 
 ence to you." He spoke slowly and as if the words pained 
 him. " And lago ? " he said, " the young bard ; I have 
 read some of his poems in the Teithitvr. They are very 
 good." 
 
 " Yes," said the girl, a tell-tale blush suffusing hor face, 
 as she called to mind that his last effusion had been ad- 
 dressed to " The Maid of the Grey and Gold." 
 
 Doctor Dan saw the blush, and drew his own conclusions, 
 but he was determined that at any price he would not mar 
 the girl's happiness this evening, so he said nothing; but 
 when ^etti brought in the tea and spread the cloth, the 
 tea cakes, the jam, and all the little dainties of a country 
 town, he pointed to the tray, and made Miriel preside at it, 
 her face to the broad window through which the golden 
 light streamed in upon her yellow hair. 
 
 "Will I make the tea, indeed?" she said, looking 
 nervously from the tea things to the doctor's face. 
 
 " Well, yes, of course, 'tis a treat for mo to have someone 
 to pour my tea out ; " and the meal proceeded with pleasant 
 talk and laughter. Doctor Dan insisting upon the " child " 
 tasting each of the little delicacies which Betti had pro- 
 vided, and for whose appreciation she now stood waiting. 
 
 " Well, I never saw so many nice tilings," said Miriel. 
 " Well, indeed ! I never tasted such cakes ! There's clever 
 Betti is — did you make them 1 "
 
 Uhc dfair m 
 
 "Yes, 'merch i," said Betti, smoothing her apron with 
 pride, and she hovered about until satisfied that Miriel 
 was making a good meal. When they were left alone 
 again, the glow of the sunset lighting up the tea-table, 
 Miriel's merry laugh filling the room with its music, Doctor 
 Dan, forgetting that fifteen years lay between him and his 
 youth, laughed and talked so much that Betti came in, and, 
 standing in the doorway with arms akimbo, said, " Wei 
 din, indeed ! 'tis nice to hear the master laughing ; in my 
 deed, I think the lo's fach had better stop with us." 
 
 " Caton pawb ! Betti, she'd break her heart in this old 
 house, and her friends are coming to fetch her by-and-by." 
 
 " Vone yr Hafod's children?" said Betti, with a little 
 disapproval in her voice. " Ach y fi ! " 
 
 Miriel flushed up in annoyance at the disparagement of 
 her friends. " They are very nice people, whatever," she 
 said, "and Betta is my friend. Oh ! and here they are, 
 there's sorry I am ! " 
 
 "Are you truly?" Doctor Dan asked, looking straight 
 into those grey eyes which some instinct told him could 
 not deceive. 
 
 " Yes," she said, returning his gaze fearlessly. " I would 
 like to stay much longer." 
 
 lacro had alighted and was standing at the door of the 
 crooked passage. Doctor Dan held out his hand, and, 
 surprised, he knew not why, the young man gave him 
 his own. 
 
 " I know Miriel wants you to see the river through my 
 parlour window ; come in and look at it." 
 
 " Well, indeed," said Miriel, " that was in my thoughts 
 exactly. How did you know, Doctor Dan 1 " 
 
 " Oh ! I am a wizard," he said, laughing, while lago 
 stood gazing at the broad flow of the river. 
 
 " 'Tis a picture indeed, sir," he said ; " with tliat old 
 casement for a frame ! and thank you for letting me 
 see it."
 
 112 ®n the mUxQB ot tbe Miu^ 
 
 "Well, I thought 'twas a sight for a bard." 
 
 " Oh, Betta is calling," said Miriel, " and Nero is tossing 
 his head." She lingered a moment however at the window 
 while lago led the way out through the passage, and her host 
 stood by silently, also looking out at the sunset. 
 
 " Well, I suppose T must let you go," he said, and Miriel 
 thought there was reluctance in his voice. The thought 
 brought a happy flush to her face, but she only said, " I am 
 sorry to go," as she placed her hand in his. 
 
 " Good-bye, then," ho said, " Come again soon and make 
 tea for me in the parlour, and we will order the sun to go 
 down just the same as to-day;" and with Miriel's happy 
 laugh ringing in his ears, he was left standing at the old 
 door of Hendyrafon, while Nero jingled his chains and 
 rattled over the bridge and up the steep hill to the moors 
 above the town. When the jingle of the car had died 
 away he turned with a sober mien to the old parlour 
 again, where Betti was clearing away the remains of the 
 meal. 
 
 " There's a purty little girl she is, master ! very like what 
 Miss Gwen was when she was young, only her eyes were 
 grey and Gwen's were blue, and there's a merry laugh she's 
 got. Now listen you to me, master. If I was in your place, 
 and was taking charge of a girl like that, for the sake of a 
 promise to the dead, 'tis here in my own house I'd have her, 
 under my very eye, where no harm could reach her. She 
 would be like a child of your own, for I have given up all 
 hope now that you will ever marry — so listen you — bring 
 Gwen Lloyd and her to live here, the lo's fach will help me 
 in managing the house, and with all the light work, and 
 Gwen can have the little parlour upstairs to herself, 'tis 
 looking over the garden, and the roses climbing round the 
 window, and I am sure she would like it, and the lo's 
 fach—" 
 
 "Oh, taw, Betti! hold thy tongue, and leave me now 
 to my book."
 
 Zhc fait 113 
 
 "Oil, I'll leave you now," said Betti, not at all hurt by 
 her master's brusque ways, for she was well used to his 
 abrupt dismissals, and, indeed, her rambling talk often 
 required them ; but before she closed the door she added, 
 " I leave you to your old books, 'machgeni, but think you 
 of my words too ! " and he did think of her words, which 
 perhaps accounted for the continual breaks in his reading, 
 during which he let his book fall on his knee and his eyes 
 follow the course of the river, now changing into a stream 
 of copper with dark, leaden shadows under the rocks and 
 trees. Again and again he took up his book, and en- 
 deavoured to enter into the spirit of the romance which 
 had hitherto never failed to engross him, but this evening 
 The Wizard of the North had lost his power over him, for 
 again and again a light laugh rang in his ears, and the 
 image of a girl, grey-eyed and golden-haired, would rise 
 between him and his page, and then he would drop his 
 book and dream, while the turmoil of the gorge and the 
 lisping of the river on the little strand filled his ears with 
 its music. " She would be like a child to you " — these were 
 Betti's words, and Betti, with all her garrulity and 
 ignorance, was considered a woman of sense. Perhaps it 
 would be well for him to bring the child and her helpless 
 charge more closely within the scope of his supervision, 
 she would brighten his hearth, and God knows it was 
 lonely enough sometimes. Why not adopt the child % for 
 Betti was right, had he not done with all thought of love 
 and marriage full fifteen years ago," and then he read 
 again, and then he dropped his book again. Miriel would 
 be a gainer by the change, for ho would surround her life 
 with happiness, the young life that had hitherto fared so 
 barely in this world's joys and pleasures ; and he would 
 watch her with a father's jealous care : and then, rising, he 
 strode up and down the long, low room, and, catching sight 
 of himself reflected in the mirror panel of the bookcase, he 
 stopped and studied his own imago, until at last, bursting 
 
 u
 
 114 Qn tbe Minos of tbc Min^ 
 
 into a laugh, he said, " No ! by Jove ! I have been a 
 failure in Betti's eyes as a young man, and I'm afraid 
 I don't look like a father ! " and then he fell to wondering 
 why Time had dealt so leniently with his appearance ; the 
 black hair was still untinged with grey, the face un- 
 furrowed by the plough of age, the eyes still bright, and the 
 even teeth as white as ever. " No," he said, " Time has 
 left his marks upon my spirit, I suppose, for certainly there 
 are few upon the outward man," and when Betti next 
 appeared he greeted her wi*-h, — 
 
 " Well, Betti, I've been taking your advice, and trying 
 to feel like a father, but, in my deed, woman, 'tis im- 
 possible ! Do I look old enough to take a lassie like that 
 to live with us ? " 
 
 " Oh ! as for looks," said Betti, " there isn't a young 
 man in Tregarreg that's fit to hold a candle to you, and 
 b'tshwr ! the lo's fach is not such a child as we think her, 
 and we would soon be having the young men here, coming 
 courting to her. Now there's that young crwt was driving 
 her to-day, be bound he has his eye upon her, and he's 
 a smart fellow too, if he is Silvan Vone's son," and she 
 rambled on until her master in self-defence took up his 
 " old book " again, and pretended to be buried in the 
 interest of its pages. Betti reluctantly withdrew, consoling 
 herself with the reflection that Deio might be consulted on 
 the subject. 
 
 Left alone. Doctor Dan soon relapsed into a brown 
 study. Again a pair of grey eyes, a clear, ringing laugh 
 came into his mind, and allowing himself to dwell upon the 
 pleasant memory, a crowd of pent-up feelings took posses- 
 sion of him. He was no sentimentalist, and therefore 
 did not reproach himself with inconstancy to the past 
 when he realised that Miriel had become very dear to him. 
 Unconsciously, " the child," as he persisted in calling her, 
 had slipped into his heart, which had so long closed its 
 door against every suggestion of love, and now, feeling that
 
 XTbe ifair "S 
 
 once more a woman walked in and out of its empty 
 chambers, and held sway there, whether he would or no, 
 his first feeling was one of contempt for his own weakness. 
 " Not even a woman," he mused, sitting there in the 
 gloaming, his eyes fixed upon the fast-flowing river, " not 
 even a woman, but a girl, a ' child,' as I have thought her. 
 Well ! God help me ! and if I am a fool, let me see that no 
 one knows it except you, Dan Griffiths ! " It was late 
 when at last he rose, and throwing away the book, whose 
 page he had not turned for an hour, went out to smoke his 
 last pipe on the bridge, still watching the river, now 
 gleaming like silver in the moonlight.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 betta's secret 
 
 " It will be late to call by Doloer to-night," said Doctor 
 Dan, as he drove up the hill to the moors a few days after 
 the fair. 
 
 " Well, the sun will be down, b'tshwr, but the moon will 
 be up," answered Deio, " and Samson knows his way dark 
 or light." 
 
 He and Betti Luke had threshed out the subject of her 
 proposal, that Miriel should be adopted by their master, 
 over their suppers for the last three nights, but he had not 
 fallen in with the idea as easily as she had hoped, although 
 he agreed that the presence of the "lo's fach " seemed 
 to brighten " Misteer " up wonderfully, and make him 
 more like what he used to be. Still, he had shaken his 
 head, and with a shrewd nod had said several times, "I am 
 not so sure of it, whatever ; such things take a good deal of 
 considering, mind thee, Betti." 
 
 So when the doctor said, "We will call by Doloer," 
 Deio's answer was strictly guarded. 
 
 From farm to farm, and from village to hamlet, they 
 drove all day ; to where the old man dying raised his head 
 from the pillow with a look of eager greeting, as he heard 
 the doctor's firm tread on the threshold, or where the 
 delicate mother was meekly giving up the hard struggle of 
 existence, smiling with gratified amusement as the baby 
 clutched the doctor's finger in its little crumpled palm. 
 
 ii6
 
 Betta'3 Secret u? 
 
 Everywhere, hearts were cheered by his presence, and 
 his departure caused wistful regret. " When will you 
 come again, sir ? " was asked and answered a dozen times in 
 the day. " He is looking so dark," said one woman, " 'tis 
 wonder the children like him ! " and so it was, as he 
 seldom made any advances towards them. 
 
 As Deio had predicted, the sun had set and the moon 
 "had risen before they drove down the soft slope to Doloer. 
 As they approached the house the scent of the flowers 
 in the garden reached them, and with it came a sound 
 of music on the air. 
 
 " What is that 1 " asked Deio, surprised. 
 
 " Something new for Doloer ! " answered his master, 
 as he alighted. 
 
 Passing in through the garden gate, a rich, full tide of 
 harmony fell upon his ears, and his footsteps were not 
 heard within as he entered the cwrt. 
 
 A shaft of light streamed through the window as he 
 passed, and, attracted by it, he stopped to look in at the 
 scene of domestic comfort which it revealed. A few peats 
 blazed on the hearth, though it was summer, and in their 
 light sat Silvan Vaughan, looking into the fire lost in deep 
 thought; while at the table lago stood, with his tonic 
 sol-fa book open before him, Miriel and Betta standing one 
 on each side of him, and cranning their necks over the 
 music which they were singing. In the background Stivin 
 and Mali sat listening, while the three fresh young voices 
 blended in pleasant harmony. 
 
 " There's a tune for you ! " said Stivin, admiringly, but so 
 loudly that Mali as usual nudged him with a glance towards 
 the closed door behind which lay Gwen's bedroom. 
 
 "Jar i," he added, "'tis like the angels' singing that my 
 mother heard once on Brynawel moor. 'Twas a quiet 
 afternoon, the sun shining very hot, and the air all quiver- 
 ing in a tremble like, no sound on land or sea but a beauti- 
 ful, soft music somewhere all around her. As sure as I'm
 
 ii8 m tbe Mings of tbe Mint) 
 
 here 'tis true ! because I've heard my mother tell it many 
 times." 
 
 Outside in the moonlight a shadow had fallen over Doctor 
 Dan's face. There was no one to notice it, so he had some- 
 what relaxed his usual control over his features as a wave 
 of bitter feeling swept over him. 
 
 By nature he was peculiarly alive to all impressions of 
 home happiness, and with all his stoicism there were times 
 when his loneliness pressed heavily upon him. To-night, 
 standing there alone, he seemed to awake suddenly to a 
 realisation of it, and he rued the day when Miriel had been 
 left in his charge. Woman or child, what was she to him 1 
 Or, rather, what was he to her? Nothing more than 
 Deio or Samson. She was gentle and kind to them all, 
 what more did he want ? How calm and peaceful were the 
 lives of these three young people ! How full of the joys of 
 home was that little circle, how completely content ; and 
 should he dare to introduce any disturbing element into 
 their placid lives 1 and break in upon the harmonies that 
 spoke of close intimacy and frequent intercourse by forbid- 
 ding their intercourse? No, his promise to Matti did not 
 compel him to avenge her wrongs upon the young and 
 innocent. Let the dead past bury its dead, and let Provi- 
 dence take care of the future. So long as no h.'«rm came to 
 Miriel ! For himself ! well, he was accustomed to loneli- 
 ness. He looked a moment longer at the cheerful group 
 within, and turning silently away retraced his steps towards 
 the gig. 
 
 Deio had watched him as he stood listening at the win- 
 dow, but made no remark as they drove up the slope. 
 When they had reached the top his master said in a care- 
 less tone, which, however, did not deceive the astute Deio, 
 " I thought perhaps the child would be happier living with 
 us at Hendyrafon, but when I saw how contented they all 
 were together I changed my mind." 
 
 "Well, I think the Almighty can manage things
 
 Betta's Secret 119 
 
 without us interfering. Be bound He has His plans 
 about it." 
 
 Doctor Dan did not answer, but, taking advantage of 
 Deio's usual stop at the top of the hill for Samson's benefit, 
 he turned to look downwards over the slope which they had 
 just ascended ; and what a sight was there to gladden the 
 eyes of the happy ; and to cast over the hearts of the sad 
 an indescribable tinge of wistful longing ! A silvery sheen 
 lay over the grass, the full moon tipping the gorse and 
 broom with light, Doloer's brown thatch lying low towards 
 the shore, whose yellow sands showed colour in the moon- 
 light, behind them that line of ragged rocks where the 
 foaming breakers gleamed white. Over all a sky which 
 still retained a tinge of the afterglow over the sea, while 
 the moon rode high over the slope. 
 
 "A braf night," said Deio. 
 
 " Yes," said the doctor, "and as fine a view as the world 
 can show. Drive on ; " and Samson, forecasting Tregarreg 
 and his comfortable stable, started bravely. 
 
 All unconscious of the silent visitor who had stood so 
 lately at the window, Miriel presently bade her friends 
 good-night, standing still at the garden gate to feast her 
 eyes upon the lovely scene. lago lingered too. '"Tis pity 
 to go in," ho said. " See how yellow the sands are ! Come, 
 lass, to the end of the shore." 
 
 "Another time," said Miriel, half consenting but reluct- 
 ant still. " To-night 'tis late, and Nanti Gwen may wake 
 and want me. No, not to-night, lago ; " and he turned away 
 with so much gloom that Miriel burst into a merry laiigh 
 at his sombre face, but he fell into a fit of " the blues " 
 which lasted several days, much to her amusement at first, 
 but afterwards to her anxiety, for lago's pleasant face and 
 handsome figure had won a certain place in her heart. She 
 had become used to the silent tokens of his love, she even 
 valued them and desired no change in him. 
 
 One day in the following week she heard a call from the
 
 I20 ®n tbe Minos ot tbe Mint) 
 
 top of the moor, and, seeing him waving a letter in the 
 breeze, ran up the hill to Hafod, where she found the whole 
 family in great excitement. 
 
 *' A letter from Phil," said his father, and the hand with 
 which he held it towards her trembled a little. 
 
 "A letter from Phil," echoed lago. "Indeed, 'tis a 
 happy end to our hopes." 
 
 " Oh, stop you ! " said Silvan Yaughan, " he's not safe 
 home ! ' There's many a wreck 'twixt the shore and the 
 deck.' " 
 
 " Twt, twt ! " said lago. " A fig for your doubts and your 
 fears, father. Upon some bright fine morning soon we'll 
 see the Seagull passing by and sailing in to Porthladin." 
 
 Betta said nothing, but the rich glow on her cheeks 
 deepened, the sparkling light in her eye brightened, and, 
 though she managed to hide her joy from the two men, 
 Miriel, with a woman's keen insight, saw it all ; and when 
 the evening came and they roamed together by the tide, 
 she taxed her friend with it. 
 
 " Oh, hush ! " said Betta. " Anw'l, anw'l ! Don't let the 
 winds or waves hear you, Miriel ! Oh, N'wncwl Sil would 
 never forgive me ; he would turn me out of Hafod if he 
 knew how it was between mo and Phil. He thinks he's 
 going to marry a rich girl in Liverpool — his cousin she is ; 
 but 'tis me Phil loves, Miriel, me, me ! poor Carbetta Jones ! 
 Now I have told you my secret ! — but we are friends, you 
 won't tell on me 1 " 
 
 *' Why, of course," said Miriel, " we are friends and that's 
 enough. But, Betta, surely some day your uncle will find 
 it out. Won't you tell him yourself and try to make him 
 willing?" 
 
 " Never," said Betta, " unless Phil will tell him. He 
 would never be willing ; I tell you his heart is set on Phil 
 marrying liis rich cousin." 
 
 "And is he so very grand, then? Is he more handsome 
 than lago ? "
 
 JSetta's Secret 121 
 
 " Wait till you see him, 'merch i ! Tall he is and 
 straight, and his hair gold-brown like the autumn leaves, 
 and eyes so blue, and his smile, Miriel, 'twould draw the 
 bird from its nest. lago, indeed ! he is not fit to hold a 
 candle to Phil. But, mind you, lago is a good, honest 
 fellow ; we could trust him with our lives — and he's loving 
 you so much, so much ! " 
 
 "Oh, nonsense about that," said Miriel, blushing hotly 
 and tossing her head with an assumption of indifference. 
 " I am not wanting a sweetheart, Betta, I am too busy to 
 think of such things." 
 
 '* Listen to her, then," said Betta, appealing to the scene 
 around her, "the prettiest girl on the shores of the bay 
 saying she's too busy to have a sweetheart. Ach y fi ! 
 'twould be very dull without one, that's what I am thinking 
 whatever," and she fell to writing "Philip Vaughan" with 
 her finger on the sand, 
 
 " Come and have supper with me ? " said Miriel, as they 
 turned homewards together. 
 
 " No, no, I must go home and prepare the supper. When 
 Phil comes home there's suppers we'll be having. Nothing 
 N'wncwl Sil can buy in Tregarreg will be too good for 
 Phil." 
 
 From this time forward at Hafod y bryn every hope, 
 every pleasure seemed to culminate in this delightful pros- 
 pect : the hay would be gathered, the corn harvest would 
 have come, the apples would be ripe when Phil came home ; 
 the 'Steddfod would be near, the crabs and lobsters would 
 be plentiful when Phil came home ; and Miriel almost learnt, 
 like her friends, to connect every event with the same 
 pleasant prospect. 
 
 She had grown more thoughtful lately, and Betta some- 
 times rallied her on her fits of abstraction. " Busy or not 
 busy, I believe you are thinking about lago," she would 
 say. 
 
 " Well, think v/hat you like, but I am not, I tell you ! "
 
 122 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 was Miriel's angry reply. " As if there was nothing but 
 lago to think about in the world, indeed ! " 
 
 "Who, then?" 
 
 "Who, then! Say 'What, thenl' and I'll tell you, 
 perhaps." 
 
 " Well, well, if it's nobody, he is not worth quarrelling 
 about, you and me." 
 
 " Quarrelling ! no, indeed, we must never quarrel, Betta ; 
 I have no companion in the world but you ; " and they 
 were " friends " again before Betta turned homewards, 
 with a little pity for the girl who had no sweetheart. 
 Miriel, too, went home to Doloer a little ashamed of her 
 hasty answer to Betta. 
 
 Her visit to Tregarreg had opened out new scenes to 
 her, and had brought fresh thoughts and feelings into her 
 life. She had not been disappointed in her glimpse of 
 " the world." The fair, with its amusements, its music, 
 its laughter, was all that her dreams had pictured, but 
 that crooked creature, Peggi Doll ! Were there many such 
 in the world? And she shuddered as she recalled the 
 rasping laugh and the sneering tone in which she had 
 spoken of Matti Lloyd, of Nanti Matti, who had ever been 
 her ideal of all that was sweet and good. " I don't know 
 what she meant, and I don't want to know," she said to 
 herself; and, having a strong will, she resolutely turned 
 her thoughts away from the unpleasant memory of Peggi 
 Doll, and let them dwell upon a scene that was altogether 
 pleasant. Those frowning castle walls round which the 
 river wound so peacefully, the kind, dark face that seemed 
 to lighten when she laughed, and to return so soon to its 
 more sober expression. To the unsophisticated country 
 girl it seemed as if a king had walked with her round 
 those grey ruins, and then had taken her with him to his 
 home, and shown her the scene of beauty which often 
 gladdened his own eyes. She recalled it all, impressing 
 the picture upon her memory so vividly, that it remained
 
 Betta's Secret 123 
 
 an ever-recurring spot of brightness, to which she resorted 
 whenever such little annoyances as Betta's words frayed 
 her spirit. At such times it was pleasant to turn in 
 thought to the quaint old room at Hendyrafon, with its 
 dark oak beams and broad, latticed window, outside the 
 golden flow of the river, inside the dainty meal. Doctor 
 Dan's grave voice falling into cheerful tones, through which 
 a laugh, a joke, often glanced, enlivening the conversation 
 and making the time pass, how much too quickly by ! 
 Yes, that was an hour altogether delightful, one to be 
 returned to in thought continually. But it had its 
 shadow — the memory of the man who had made the 
 time glide by so pleasantly left standing there alone, as 
 she with lago and Betta had driven away over the 
 bridge. 
 
 He would return to that old room alone, no voice but 
 Betti Luke's to break the silence of the deepening twilight, 
 no one to light his lamp, to bring his book, to sit at his 
 feet and ask him about it. Oh ! how could Nanti Matti 
 have missed so much happiness ? So, with all these 
 thoughts in her mind, it was no wonder that the fair face 
 took a more pensive look sometimes and the childish 
 manners grew more womanly. Even lago noticed it as 
 he stood beside her milking-stool one evening. 
 
 "Your face is growing more like the sunset than the 
 dawn, Miriel," he said. 
 
 "Well, I am growing older, lad." 
 
 "You haven't reached the evening of life yet, whatever. 
 No, 'tis as if you were holding fast the beauty of the day 
 that is past." 
 
 "The day that is past! Well, indeed! Your bardism 
 is making you too serious sometimes, lago. There's 
 another day coming to-morrow, full of flowers and sun- 
 shine, white waves and blue sky ; and I am looking 
 forward to it, for all the day that is past. There for 
 you ! "
 
 124 ®ii tbe MiuGS of tbe "Min^ 
 
 lago laughed. " Well, you didn't let me finish. I had 
 got a pretty bard-word to add, but now you sha'n't hear it." 
 
 " Yes, tell it me." 
 
 " Well, 'twas about the beauty of the day that was 
 coming, and your beauty, Miriel — and then I was going to 
 ask you to try and like me. If you would only take my 
 heart and give me yours, every day would be full of beauty 
 for me — and for you, Miriel, for I would spend my Hfe to 
 make you happy." 
 
 " lago, lago ! there's unhappy you are making me. 
 Besides, 'tis all nonsense that you are speaking to me, I 
 am too busy to think of such things." 
 
 " That is all nonsense." 
 
 " Well, look at Nanti Gwen and your father, 'tis caring 
 for them and making their path smooth we ought to be, 
 you and I, lago, and not thinking about such things." 
 
 " Such things ! That is nonsense too. Tell me plainly, 
 do you care for me a little, then ? " 
 
 "A little," said Miriel, rising and looking down into her 
 pail. " Well, then, very much, perhaps. How do I know 
 that if another asked mc I would not like him better 1 " 
 
 "That's it," said lago; "that's what I fear so much. 
 Phil is coming, and — oh, Miriel, promise me before he 
 comes — " 
 
 " Oh, I promise you that," said Miriel, remembering 
 Betta's confidences. " I promise you I will never like 
 Phil as much as I like you." 
 
 " Promise to marry me, then." 
 
 " Marry you ! marry you or anyone else ! No, indeed, I 
 will not. I tell you, lad, 'tis nonsense. When I am ten 
 years older, perhaps, I will begin to think of marrying." 
 
 " Ten years ! Well, in ten years I will still love you. 
 Yes, in twenty, in a hundred; but 'tis long to wait." 
 
 "Yes, in my deed, that would be long to wait." 
 
 Her merry laugh rang out to the sunset, and as she 
 lifted her pail to her hip she added mischievously, "Oh,
 
 3Betta's Secret 125 
 
 there's serious and ' bardic ' you are looking, lad ! You 
 are not half so handsome without that merry look in your 
 eyes." 
 
 But lago would not smile, on the contrary he sighed as 
 he turned and walked silently beside her down the slope. 
 
 " There's glad your father is that Phil is coming home," 
 she said as they reached the little gate, with an attempt 
 to restore their talk to its usual calmness. 
 
 "Yes, I think they are all singing Gwen's song in their 
 hearts there night and day : — 
 
 •* * On the wings of the wind he is coming to me 
 Over the salt sea foam.' " 
 
 And he hummed the refrain with an air of nonchalance 
 as he passed on towards the shore. 
 
 Miriel too sighed as she entered the porch. " Ach y fi ! " 
 she said to herself, "there's foolish he is. Marry, indeed ! 
 a boy like that ! " 
 
 When she entered the house she found Gwen restless 
 and fretful, tugging at her thread and whispering, and it 
 required all her patience and tact to restore her to amia- 
 bility. Should she resort to her usual ruse and announce 
 the arrival of the Hawk in the bay? No, she would 
 try to stave off that last resource, for a sudden inspiration 
 had come to her in connection with that means of soothing 
 Gwen, and she would wait until she had laid her plans 
 before Silvan Yaughan. 
 
 Next day while Gwen was sleeping she made her way 
 up the slope to Hafod, where she found the master sitting 
 in the chimney corner smoking his afternoon pipe. 
 
 "I have come to ask you something," she said, fanning 
 herself with her hat as she took the stool which he pushed 
 towards her. " 'Tis about Nanti Gwen. Will you help me ? 
 I have thought of a plan to make her better." 
 
 " To make her better 1 'merch f ach i ! I would do anything
 
 126 ®n tbe Mlnas of tbe MinO 
 
 to make her better. I would feel 'twas a sign of God's 
 forgiveness to me, child. But in His hand are the issues of 
 our lives. What can I do to help you 1 " 
 
 "Well, listen, then ; 'tis this I've been thinking. When 
 she is restless and unhappy, the words that will always 
 soothe her are these — Nanti Matti used to say them when 
 ever Nanti Gwen could not be calmed ; she would look 
 through the window and pretend she saw a ship sailing in. 
 ' Here's the Hawk sailing in,' she would say, ' and here's 
 Silvan Vaughan coming up the shore.' I know now it was 
 you she meant, but I don't know the reason that Nanti Matti 
 always hated to say those words, I don't want to know. It 
 was something that passed long ago — Oh, I see I am paining 
 you sore by talking about it, but I am thinking that perhaps 
 you could take the sting from that pain by helping me now." 
 
 "No, nothing can do that; but what can I do, 'merch-i?" 
 
 " Nanti Gwen is very restless to-day ; if she is the same 
 to-morrow, I will try the old words, and will you come in 
 just when she is expecting you? just like, I think, you must 
 have been coming lung ago before she got like this." 
 
 " But she has never seen me yet since she has been like 
 this. What will she say ? What if she should know me ! 
 How could I bear her eyes upon me 1 " 
 
 " Drink this," said Miriel, pouring out a mug of water. 
 " Oh, I am cruel to make you ill, but 'tis because something 
 is telling me that we can do her good, you aud I together. 
 There's happy news 'twould be for Doctor Dan ! " 
 
 " Yes, 'merch i. I will do what you please. If it breaks 
 this old heart what will that matter ? " 
 
 " It won't," said Miriel. " Let me try, 'tis God is urging 
 me on. I will fly a white cloth at the window — will you 
 come from -wherever you are ] " 
 
 " I will come. To-morrow, to-night — any time when you 
 call me I will come. God grant your plan may be blessed." 
 
 " I must run back," said Miriel ; " she may awake, for she 
 is not sleeping sound to-day."
 
 JBetta'5 Secret 127 
 
 And true enough, before the afteruoon had waned, the 
 fretful cry drew Miriel to her Aunt's bedside. 
 
 " Come, then," she said cheerfully, " I will help you to rise. 
 'Twill soon be tea time," and running hastily back to the 
 living-room, she hung the signal through the window, and 
 when, soon after, she led Gwen to her usual seat under the 
 big chimney, the little flag was fluttering in the breeze. 
 
 Gwen at once began her spinning, but the invisible thread 
 seemed more entangled than usual, she tugged at it, and, 
 with a flush of excitement in her cheeks, bent over the 
 intricacies of her work. 
 
 It was not long before Miriel saw that Vone yr Hafod 
 had noticed her signal, and was coming slowly down the 
 slope. Gwen fretted audibly, until at last the girl, holding 
 one hand over her eyes as though she stood outside in the 
 sunshine, said, "Why, here's the Hawk sailing into the 
 bay ! and here's Silvan Vaughan coming up the shore ! " 
 In a moment the magic words had worked their spell, and 
 soothed the troubled spirit, and Gwen composed herself in 
 her chair, pulling out the bows of her hair, smoothing her 
 black silk apron and smiling contentedly, while Miriel grew 
 hot and cold by turns. 
 
 In a few moments footsteps in the porch apprised her of 
 Silvan Vaughan's arrival, and she saw him enter carrying a 
 sheaf of green rushes. 
 
 He stooped more than usual, his face was pale, and his 
 lips twitched nervously as he drew near the hearth, where 
 Gwen had not yet observed him. 
 
 " Good day, lass ! " he said, taking a.chair beside her. " I 
 have brought the rushes for a hat I am going to make. 
 You promised to teach me the plait." 
 
 Gwen looked up startled, her hands dropped on lier lap, 
 a pale pink flushed her cheeks, and, smiling, she took a 
 handful of the rushes which he held out to her with a 
 trembling hand, and her delicate fingers applied themselves 
 naturally to their long-forgotten work.
 
 128 m tbe Minos ot tbe imnt> 
 
 "Here, let me move your wheel out of your Wcay," and he 
 made as though he lifted the phantom wheel away. Miriel 
 nervously watched the effect, and was surprised to see that 
 the serene smile on Gwen's face was not disturbed. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan, flinging the whole sheaf of rushes at her 
 feet, bent over the thin white fingers as if to learn the 
 intricacies of the plait. 
 
 "Now let mc try,"' he said, and taking the rushes into his 
 own fingers, which were almost as white and delicate as hers, 
 he twined the strands into the required pattern, which was 
 evidently not so entirely unknown to him as he would have 
 his teacher believe. Sometimes he made a false loop, when 
 she would smilingly set his fingers right. 
 
 "Ah ! that's it, but I'm tired," he said, when a few inches 
 had been plaited. " Will you do a little now?" and taking 
 the work once more, she continued to weave the rushes with 
 a look of content on her face which had long been absent. 
 
 The green coil grew longer and trailed on the floor, the 
 old clock ticked loudly in the comer, and Miriel, moving 
 about silently, was careful not to break the spell of quiet 
 happiness which reigned over the hearth. The hours passed 
 on, 'twas five o'clock, and still Gwen plaited and Silvan 
 Vaughan sat watching with intense interest, a flush of 
 pleasure on his face, that made it young again. 
 
 " That is how he looked when he was young," thought 
 Miriel, "and that is how Nanti Gwen looked. What came 
 between them, I wonder? was it deixr Nanti Matti? and 
 was it for that she was always punishing herself ? Yes, till 
 she died ! " for Miriel was learning strange lessons from her 
 slight contact with the world around her, lessons which gave 
 her fair face a look of pensive seriousness sometimes, that 
 added to its charm, for the sober look never stayed too long 
 upon the lips, to which the merry laugh seemed natural, nor 
 too long in the earnest eyes, which could sparkle with 
 merriment and seemed always ready to see the joys and 
 beauties of life.
 
 Betta'3 Secret 129 
 
 At last when the kettle was bubbling over she made a 
 sign to Silvan Vaughan which he rightly interpreted. 
 
 '* You have plaited enough for the crown, Gwen — you will 
 be tired, 'merch i, and here's the tea. Will I stop and have 
 tea with you ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Gwen, and she allowed him to take the plait 
 from her fingers, and carry the sheaf of rushes to a corner 
 behind the settle, where she seemed to forget them, and, 
 sitting at the table, slie drank her tea and ate the thin slices 
 of white bread and butter which were provided for her alone, 
 although in silence, yet with a play of features, and a look 
 of content, which Miriel had never seen there before. 
 
 For still another hour after the meal was over Silvan 
 Vaughan sat beside her. She had returned once more to 
 her spinning, but he would not try the rushes again, neither 
 did Miriel press him to do so, so much they dreaded lest the 
 spell should be broken, and Gwen reject their influence. 
 At bedtime she rose, obedient as usual to Miriel's sugges- 
 tion, but seemed to hesitate as she saw Silvan Vaughan 
 standing with outstretched hand. " Good-night," he said, " I 
 will come and see you to-morrow again." 
 
 " Good-night," she answered in a dreamy voice, and 
 placing her hand in Miriel's she passed with her through 
 the old oak doorway. It closed behind them and Silvan 
 Vaughan was left to his own reflections.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 gwen's awakening 
 
 Day after day the same device was practised, and day 
 after day the apathy and numbness which had so long 
 held Gwen's spirit in bondage seemed to succumb to the 
 influence of Silvan Vaughan's presence, and the sensations 
 awakened by the return to her old and favourite occupa- 
 tion. Although she was still somewhat silent and distrait, 
 every day saw some fresh token of awakening interest and 
 renewal of mental health. 
 
 The new atmosphere of hope brought unbounded pleasure 
 to Miriel, while to Silvan Vaughan it brought a strange 
 and unexpected happiness. 
 
 After all the long years was he now to receive this 
 pledge of God's f oregiveness ? Dare he take it as such? 
 And over his spirit swept a flood of deep humility. 
 
 No ! He would count it rather as God's blessing upon 
 Gwen, a blessing whose golden light was reflected upon 
 him, and whose stray beams he would thankfully receive. 
 What peace! what joy! to sit beside her every day, 
 while Miriel's busy feet passed backwards and forwards at 
 her work — while the old clock ticked and the cooing of the 
 pigeons came in on the slumbrous afternoon air, while they 
 two sat sheltered and calm together, to end their days in 
 restored companionship. 
 
 With each returning day hope and gratitude sprang up 
 afresh in Miriel's heart. The long-wished-for awakening 
 
 130
 
 Owen's Hwaftenino 131 
 
 was coming ! Oh, that Nanti Matti had lived to see it ! 
 " But she will know," thought the girl in her simple faith. 
 And who can tell but that the simplest faith is nearest to 
 the truth ? 
 
 " She will know, for what did she say to Doctor Dan ? 
 * When Gwen's reason is restored, then you may feel I am 
 happy and forgiven.' Oh ! that he would come, that I 
 might have the happiness of telling him the joyful news." 
 Daily she scanned the brow of the hill with eager eyes, and 
 still every hour Gwen's mind grew clearer. She awoke 
 earlier from her afternoon sleep, passed into the living- 
 room with a firmer step, and leant less heavily on Miriel's 
 arm ; her delicate cheek regained its faint bloom, her eyes 
 their brightness, and although she still, at times, spun at 
 her phantom wheel and hummed the old refrain, she often 
 turned from it and picked up the hat of rushes, as if re- 
 calling herself from a fit of abstraction. 
 
 She seldom spoke unless spoken to, when she would 
 answer quietly and reasonably. Sitting there, silently 
 weaving the green rushes, she seemed to drink in fresh 
 life and energy from the mere presence of the man she 
 loved ; but with all the renewal of her mental faculties, 
 her memory still slept, she showed no sign of retrospection, 
 but lived only in the restored happiness of the present. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan was thankful that it was so, that he 
 was spared the pain of allusion to the past, and, above all, 
 that she was free from its bitter memories. Betta some- 
 times came in, and fully entei'ed into Miriel's joy, as she 
 watched the change in Gwen's appearance and manner. 
 
 lago, too, with his thoughtful, earnest eyes, often stood 
 leaning against the chimney wall, and pondered upon the 
 scene before him ; his father, still bent and grey, but with 
 a light and colour in his face that he had never seen there 
 before, Gwen reclining in her chair, content and peace 
 impressed upon her features, her busy fingers weaving the 
 shining rushes.
 
 132 ®n tbe iminas of tbe Mtnb 
 
 Sometimes a remark would fall from Silvan's lips, some- 
 times a quiet word from G wen's, but generally the soft 
 silence of the afternoon brooded over them and bathed 
 them in a strange new atmosphere of rest. 
 
 " 'Tis strange ! " said lago to Betta one day as they 
 returned up the slope together. " It seems as if my father 
 had found the repose for which he has always been longing. 
 'Tis easy to see they were lovers in the old time past, 
 though he has never told me so, and I am sure some dark 
 cloud blighted their youth ; perhaps it was poor Gwen's 
 derangement." 
 
 "Perhaps," said Betta, who had heard more from the 
 gossip of the countryside and had drawn her own con- 
 clusions. " Never mind the past, 'tis peace and happiness 
 with them now, whatever." 
 
 "I'm afraid it won't be for long," said lago. "Dost 
 not think he is looking more frail every day although he 
 has more colour? In my deed, I will be glad when Phil 
 comes home." 
 
 "Yes," said Betta, picking at the petals of a moon daisy, 
 a " golden dawn " as they call it in Welsh. " He wUl soon 
 bo here now." 
 
 " I wonder will he marry that Jinny Ffowkes before 
 long 1 " 
 
 " I wonder," answered Betta, carelessly, as they entered 
 the house door together. 
 
 Miriel's thoughts were taking much the same course this 
 afternoon as she moved about on household cares intent. 
 
 When the next day brought Doctor Dan and Deio to 
 the gate, she sprang to meet them with so radiant a look 
 of happiness on her face that both exclaimed, " What is it, 
 then?" 
 
 " Oh ! There's glad I am to see you ! 'Tis good news I 
 have ! Nanti Gwen is better. Oh, Doctor Dan ! Deio 1 
 aren't you glad ? " 
 
 " Is it true ? " said Deio, cautiously.
 
 6 wen's Hwaftcnino 133 
 
 " 'Tis true, indeed," she said, as she led the way into the 
 house, talking so fast that the doctor was obliged to accept 
 the role of silence. 
 
 " She's asleep now ; but, oh ! sit down here, she will soon 
 awake, and Silvan Vaughan will come down," and she 
 paused, breathless, as she detected a smile of patient 
 amusement on the doctor's face. " Oh ! there's talking 
 I've been ; too much, I know ! " 
 
 " No, no ; I like to hear you chattering, Miriel. But 
 when did the change set inl" 
 
 " 'Tis a fortnight now since I asked Yone yr Hafod to 
 come in when she was awake. Before that he never came 
 except when she was asleep, so she never saw him." And 
 she recounted the manner in which he had first ventured 
 to show himself, and the wonderful effect of his presence 
 upon Gwen. " And there's wanting to see you I was," she 
 continued, " because I knew 'twas the wish of your heart 
 to see her better." 
 
 " Well, I don't know about the wish of my heart ; but, 
 at all events, I am truly glad, Miriel." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! Because of what Nanti Matti said. Now 
 we can grieve for her loss, but without bitterness, because 
 she will know of this blessing that God has sent us." 
 
 " I wish I had your simple faith, child ! " 
 
 " Simple faith ! But why, then ? Don't you think 
 Nanti Matti will be glad?" And a look of disturbed 
 thought made her eyes serious. 
 
 " Yes, yes ! Let us all rejoice without questioning. 
 Where is she now 1 Asleep ? " 
 
 "Yes, 'tis time to fetch her in here." 
 
 " How shall I do, little woman ? You have managed it 
 all so well hitherto. How shall I meet her, for she has 
 seen me before without recognising me 1 " 
 
 '■' Well, indeed, I think it would be better to speak as if 
 you had been here yesterday ; " and Doctor Dan allowed 
 himself to be guided by her counsel, and when, a few
 
 134 ®n tbe Minos ot tbe 1lm(n^ 
 
 minutes afterwards Gwen entered, as usual leaning on 
 Miriel's arm, he greeted her without any show of surprise 
 or unusual pleasure. 
 
 " Well, Gwen ! Here's a lovely day again, isn't it? " and 
 holding out his hand she placed hers within it. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," was all her answer, as she arranged her 
 dress in her chair and picked up her rushes from the little 
 table, where Miriel had laid them in readiness. But those 
 two words alone were sufficient to show him that reason 
 had resumed control over the mind which had so long 
 been darkened. Her eyes were often turned expectantly 
 towards the sunny doorway, and, observing this, the doctor 
 rose with the intention of leaving, but hesitated as Miriel 
 said appealingly, " Oh ! not before Vone yr Hafod comes ! 
 I see him coming down the slope." 
 
 She could not have laid a greater tax upon him, nor 
 have demanded a more complete sacrifice, and a flood, nay, 
 a very tornado of bitter feelings, rushed through his mind 
 and heart, although the few moments during which Silvan 
 Vaughan drew nearer were unmarked by any show of feel- 
 ing in the doctor's dark face, except what a sudden and 
 vivid flash of colour evinced. His righteous indignation, 
 his hatred of the man whose footsteps he already heard at 
 the doorway, his wrongs long brooded over, could these be 
 all erased and trodden down in a moment 1 The bitterness 
 of a lifetime, was it meet that it should be thrust aside and 
 give place to the ordinary amenities of life ? Surely Time 
 is but a name for the course of events, for in that second, 
 while a shadow fell on the floor and Miriel's soft voice 
 pleaded in his ears, in Doctor Dan's heart a tempest of 
 hatred and anger was conquered. 
 
 " Your face is dark and angry," said Miriel. " I am 
 thinking Nanti Matti would say ' Let all the past be for- 
 gotten and forgiven now.' " 
 
 "So be it, Miriel," he answered, "so help me, God ! I 
 will not cast a shadow on your returning happiness," and
 
 Owen's Hwaf?enlno 13s 
 
 standing erect, no trace of the storm of feeling through 
 which he had passed upon his face, with a bend of his head 
 he greeted Silvan Vaughan with no anger, though without 
 friendliness. 
 
 ** Dan ! " gasped the latter, coming to a standstill within 
 the doorway. "I did not know you were here! Will I 
 go again 1 " 
 
 "No. I knew you were coining. I waited for you. 
 The young are rising up around us ; it is not fair to spoil 
 their draught of life by our drops of gall. To-day I turn 
 my back upon the past for — for Miriel's sake, and from 
 me you will never hear another word in allusion to it. 
 'Tis good news I hear of Gwen ; let us all rejoice 
 in it." 
 
 The latter had been looking from one to the other in 
 puzzled curiosity during this conversation, and, seeing that 
 it would be dangerous to prolong the tension of her mind, 
 he pushed a chair towards her, and made a sign to Silvan 
 Vaughan to occupy it. 
 
 But to him the sudden meeting had been too trying, 
 and he sank upon the chair evidently unable to stand 
 longer. 
 
 " This, too ! " he said. " I cannot bear it ! " The pale 
 face grew whiter, the eyes closed, and, had not Miriel sup- 
 ported him, he would have fallen to the ground. Once 
 more her little store of wine was broached, and Doctor Dan 
 held the mug to his lips. 
 
 In a moment Gwen had risen and, thrusting Miriel aside, 
 she assisted the doctor's efforts with quiet self-possession. 
 It was she who chafed the white, thin hands and fanned 
 the blue lips, and when at last the prostrate man showed 
 signs of returning consciousness, it was her voice that spoke 
 the tender words of cheer, and her smile which greeted his 
 awakening eyes. 
 
 " Art better, Silvan bach ? " she said, when, with the 
 doctor's assistance, Miriel had made him comfortable on
 
 136 ®n tbc Miiios of tbe Min& 
 
 the settle ; and the weak voice answered, " Yes, Gwen 
 fach." 
 
 " 'Twas a faint, I think, Dan ?" she said, turning naturally 
 to the doctor. 
 
 "Yes, yes," he said ; "the day has been warm. Let's 
 have tea, Miriel. Perhaps Gwen will help you ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Gwen, looking around her as if a little 
 dazed, and, although she was not of much use, it was 
 delightful to Miriel to see her move about the room 
 absorbed in thought for others, and with a look of pleased 
 content upon her face, though mingled with anxiety for 
 Silvan Vaughan's feebleness. 
 
 " If lago would come, I would go home," he said. 
 
 "That will be best," said the doctor. "Quiet and rest 
 will bring you round by to-morrow ; " and Miriel running 
 out called, "lago — lago!" until the name filled all the 
 hollow slope. Her voice came pleasantly in on the soft 
 afternoon air, but somehow the sound grated on Doctor 
 Dan's ear, and a cloud was brooding over his face when in 
 a short time the owner of the name entered Doloer. 
 
 "Father anw'l?" the young man exclaimed, as he saw 
 his father's white face resting on the patchwork cushion 
 which Gwen had placed under his head. "What is it? 
 A faint?" 
 
 "Yes, bring the car and take me home." 
 
 In a moment lago, with a hurried greeting to Doctor 
 Dan, was running up the slope, returning before long with 
 the car, into which with the doctor's help he lifted his 
 father, and they drove over the soft turf together. 
 
 " That's a knowing lad, and tender," said the doctor, as 
 if compelled by some inward impulse to speak the words. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Miriel. " lago is kind and wise and 
 good. And if you could hear his poetry and his voice ! — he 
 can sing well enough to try for a prize at the Eisteddfod 
 but he won't." 
 
 "A wonderful man, I see;" and the girl, keenly sensi-
 
 (Bwen's Hwaftcnino 137 
 
 tive to every inflection of his voice, felt that she had said 
 something not altogether pleasing to Doctor Dan. She 
 hurried to the little tea-table, therefore, and tried to create 
 a diversion by sitting down to it with a great show of 
 hospitality. She tried by all sorts of pretty devices to 
 banish the momentary look of gloom from his face, and not 
 without success, for before the meal was over the dark 
 shadow had fled and he had regained his cheerfulness, and 
 even Gwen, though often relapsing into fits of musing, took 
 part in the conversation. 
 
 "How is BettiT' asked Miriel. " There's kind she was 
 to me ; and the dear old room — is it all the same ? " 
 
 " Well, no," said the doctor, " I don't think it is. The 
 furniture and the walls and the window are there un- 
 changed, but I think it seems rather dull and dreary 
 lately. I must have it painted and papered like the new 
 houses, I think." 
 
 "Oh, no!" said Miriel, clasping her hands. "'Twould 
 spoil the pretty white walls and the brown beams — they 
 suit the gold and red on the river. Oh, no, no ! it would 
 not be like Hendyrafon then." 
 
 " No, of course," he said ; " I was joking, Miriel. You 
 feel the spirit of the place as I do. But will you come 
 then and brighten it up some day soon ? " 
 
 "Will T come the day of the Eisteddfod?" said Miriel, 
 almost in a whisper, a flush of pleasure colouring her face. 
 
 " Nothing could be better, 'merch i ! Next month, isn't 
 it? Now that Gwen is better you must come oftener to 
 town. We'll go and see the old castle again, and I will 
 tell you more about it." 
 
 Miriel sighed with content, though she only said, "Yes, 
 indeed, I will come. More tea 1 " 
 
 " No more. I must go ; Deio is to meet me at the top 
 of the slope. He is gone to Bryngelly. What if you call 
 Mali and come with me to the top, Miriel ? " 
 
 She was out of the door in a moment, and Doctor Dan,
 
 138 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MluO 
 
 turning to Gwen, said in a matter-of-fact voice, " Good-bye, 
 Gwen. T will come and see you soon again. Will you 
 weave me a hat some day 1 It would be cool and shady for 
 driving." 
 
 "Yes, when Sil van's is finished. Will he be well 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Quite well, and with you here in the afternoon 
 Fforwel ! " 
 
 Mali came bobbing in with a " Dy, da ser," and Miriel, 
 waiting in the porch, joined him as he left the house. 
 
 "I had to call you out," he said, "to tell you how 
 astonished and delighted I am at Gwen's improvement. 
 It is exactly what I could wish it to be — not sudden, not 
 complete, for I see her memory still sleeps. I believe she 
 wiU recover wholly, Miriel, and we shall have your wise 
 little head and your tender heart to thank for it ; but I 
 foresee one danger. If she suddenly regained her memory 
 I think it would be fatal to her, but if the wakening is 
 slow and gradual it will be safe, so don't hurry it — say 
 nothing to recall the past." 
 
 "I won't; indeed, I won't," said Miriel, "and — and — " 
 
 " And what, Miriel ? Why do you hesitate 1 I cannot 
 bear to think you are afraid of me. Can't you learn to 
 like me well enough to say just what comes into your 
 mind ? " 
 
 "I am not afraid, indeed," she said. "I have some- 
 thing to say, but I haven't got words to make my thoughts 
 plain. I am sure you can't understand that, because you 
 are speaking so easy and smooth ; " and she laughed at her 
 own ignorance — that ringing laugh which had brightened 
 the solitude of Henilyrafon. 
 
 "Yes, I can," said the doctor. "I am not sure that I 
 am not in the same difficulty myself ! so say it just as you 
 think it. I have no doubt I can piece it togetlier." 
 
 " Oh, 'tis only that I want to say that I know it was 
 hard for you to be kind to Yone yr Ilafod. I don't know
 
 6 wen's Hwaftentno 139 
 
 why, but I am sure that he was wrong long ago, and you 
 were right ; and you put all your angry feelings behind 
 you, and you were kind to him, because of something — 
 because of Nanti Matti perhaps, or because of Nanti 
 Gwen, not to spoil her getting better, I mean. And then 
 I am wanting you to know that I am thanking you in my 
 heart, though I can't put it in words." 
 
 " I understand it all," he said, " and you guessed right, 
 it was hard ; but in one thing you are mistaken, and that 
 is — the motive, but never mind that. Let me see, there 
 is something I am wanting to say, too, and that is, that 
 I am glad you know it was hard, and that's all, I think ! " 
 
 Suddenly Miriel stopped. " Here's a patch of white 
 clovares — there's glad I am ! " she exclaimed. " 'Tis the 
 flower that you like so much, and so I can give you some- 
 thing," and she held them towards him shyly, her fair face 
 growing pink with the very shade of the heart of the 
 blossom. 
 
 " Will you put it in my coat, Miriel 1 " he asked, 
 scarcely able to hide his admiration of the beautiful face. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, I will," and she fastened it safely, though 
 a good deal embarrassed. 
 
 '* It is very pink for a white one, whatever ! " she said to 
 cover her shyness. 
 
 " Your face is the same shade of colour. I think the 
 clover is blushing." 
 
 " Well, indeed, perhaps it is," said Miriel, laughing ; 
 " so proud it is to be more noticed than the others in the 
 grass 1 " 
 
 They were interrupted by a call that came loud and clear 
 upon the breeze. " Miriel ! Miriel ! " and the air seemed 
 filled with the name. 
 
 " It is lago," she said, blushing a little, she knew not 
 why, and she called in return — ** I am coming." Doctor 
 Dan saw the blush and noted the ready answer, and felt 
 a strange sinking of the heart.
 
 140 ®n tbe Mtnos of tbe Mtn& 
 
 " What does he want with you 1 " he asked. 
 
 "I don't know, but perhaps his father is worse, and 
 Betta is out, or indeed I don't know what," she added, 
 with a pretty confusion. 
 
 "Never mind what, Miriel. You would miss these 
 people out of your life now ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " She said no more, and the doctor said 
 no more, but, reaching the top of the slope, got into the 
 gig which Deio, tired of waiting, drove quickly away. 
 
 " He forgot to say good-bye," said Miriel to herself, but 
 the omission did not pain her much, or, rather, if it did, the 
 pain was counterbalanced by the memory of the light in 
 Doctor Dan's face as he had spoken to her. With an un- 
 usual warmth fluttering her heart she turned towards Hafod, 
 where lago stood waiting for her outside the grey walls 
 beside which she had buried Quitto. So long ago it 
 seemed ! How altered was her life ! how many events had 
 happened within the last few months. Surely it must be 
 years since Quitto died, for then she was a child, now she 
 was a woman, and Doctor Dan had confessed she was a 
 woman and had conversed with her to-day as if she were a 
 woman — and with the new warmth in her heart, she yet 
 sighed, as she followed lago into the quaint old passage at 
 Hafod. 
 
 " 'Tis the white heifer is sick, Miriel, and Betta has gone 
 to Porthlidan to get a little brandy for my father ; he is 
 asleep now. What will I do for her ? " and together they 
 leant over the strong oak rail that made one side of the 
 passage. The cow-house was a foot or more lower than the 
 floor of the dwelling-house, so they had to look down at 
 Corwen, lying on the straw, and neither eating nor chewing 
 the cud. 
 
 Miriel once more made her ready admission of ignorance. 
 
 " There's sorry I am I don't know ! but I will call Mali. 
 She will know," and the latter came in hot haste, with a 
 regular pharmacopoeia of recipes, a bolus, a blister, a
 
 6wen's Bwaftenino 141 
 
 drench, and I know not what ! until lago and the inex- 
 perienced Miriel began to look round in affright. 
 
 "See how she drops her head ! " said lago, "and how 
 rough her coat looks ! I wouldn't for a hundred pounds 
 that this should happen while my father and Betta are 
 both absent." 
 
 " Ts — ts — ts, what a pity ! " said Miriel, climbing over 
 the rail into Corwen's 'cratch, cooing soft nothings into 
 her ear and passing her arm round the gentle creature's 
 neck, " 'Trwdi anwyl ! " 
 
 " 'Trwdi fach ! " said lago, looking over the rail in 
 concern and anxiety — Mali standing with arms akimbo 
 and predicting all sorts of disasters if her advice were not 
 taken. 
 
 Suddenly, with a snort, Corwen rose to her feet and 
 began to tug vigorously at the hay in the manger ! 
 
 " Well, Tan i marw ! the hussy's been cheating us ! " 
 said Mali, turning indignantly away, and not altogether 
 pleased that her medicaments were not needed, while 
 Miriel, catching sight of lago's expression of mingled 
 relief and disgust, burst into one of her ringing peals of 
 laughter, which lago laughingly extinguished by throwing 
 a bundle of green clover over her head. 
 
 " Hush, lass ! " he cried, " father is asleep," and Miriel, 
 unable to stifle her laughter, hurried out through the cow- 
 house door, where lago joined her, looking rather shame- 
 faced. 
 
 " Oh, anw'l, anw'l 1 " said Miriel, between her fits of 
 laughter. " Here's a farmer ! Well, indeed ! Will I ever 
 forget your face, lad 1 " 
 
 "Yours too," said lago, "and you wasting all those 
 sweet words upon her ! Corwen has fooled us all." 
 
 " Well, I can go, I suppose ! " and, running down the 
 slope, she stopped repeatedly to look back at lago and 
 laugh. 
 
 Meanwhile, the two occupants of the gig had driven
 
 142 ©n tbe TKHtnos of tbe Wiin^ 
 
 away, and disappeared over the brow of the hill, each 
 silently buried in his own thoughts. Deio, while he had 
 been waiting? for his master, had been keenly alive to 
 everything that had transpired between him and the sea, 
 although he had sat apparently as stolid as a fossil. He 
 had noted the long stay at Doloer, followed by the walk up 
 the hill of Doctor Dan and Miriel together, and lago's call 
 for " Miriel, Miriel ! " which echoed over the slope, bad 
 seemed to him inopportune, if not impertinent. He had 
 seen lago, too, driving his father home from Doloer, the 
 latter evidently suffering from one of those " nasty fints." 
 " 'Twas was a good thing master was there, no doubt," he 
 soliloquised, for he was apt to hold more conversation with 
 himself than with anyone else, " but there's tender that 
 boy was to his father ! That's the way things are in this 
 world ; wickedness and folly in the past, and then love and 
 pleasantness at the end of his days. Ach y fi ! " 
 
 At this moment his master arrived, and Deio drove on 
 without a word, but the same matter evidently occupied 
 the thoughts of each, for, as he alighted at Hendyrafon, 
 the doctor made one remark, which seemed to relieve his 
 feelings. " All the same, he was a d d rascal ! " 
 
 " A blackguard ! " echoed Deio.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE "SEA gull's" ARRIVAL 
 
 Thb summer weeks were passing rapidly onward. To 
 Doloer they brought such a season of joyous hope and 
 happy intercourse, that in the long years to come there 
 was not one of that small, isolated circle but recalled it 
 with wistful longing. 
 
 Gwen improved daily, and sang her favourite song with 
 a happy intonation, which had been utterly absent from 
 the crooning melody of her later years. They all grew 
 familiar with the tune, and often in the evenings, when 
 they were gathered round the hearth, the whole party 
 joined in the swinging refrain which she led with a clear, 
 true voice : — 
 
 '* On the wings of the wind he is coming to me 
 Over the salt sea foam, 
 Out of the west where the wind blows free 
 My sailor is sailing home ! 
 
 Sailing home — sailing home 
 Over the stormy sea." 
 
 Even Silvan Vaughan joined his weak voice in the 
 chorus, his thoughts flying to the Sea Gull, which he knew 
 was already on her homeward bound voyage, bearing with 
 her his son in whom his hopes were centred. lago he 
 was accustomed to think of with a modified regard ; he 
 was tender and true, he was steady and honest — a bard, 
 
 143
 
 144 ®n tbe Mings of tbe minC> 
 
 too, there was no doubt — but only a farmer, a son of the 
 soil, while Phil, with his handsome person and charming 
 ways, was a gentleman born, and destined to bring credit 
 and wealth to the old family that had for years been 
 shadowed by the misdeeds of his own reckless youth. 
 
 The hay harvest was over, and beyond the slope the 
 barley fields were turning colour. One day succeeded 
 another with balmy languorous softness, no sound breaking 
 the stillness except the murmur of the sea, the cooing of 
 the pigeons and the fanning flight of their wings, some- 
 times Miriel's call to her goats and their bleating answer ; 
 but, stay ! if you listen, the air is full of sweet sounds ; the 
 call of the seabirds, the trickle of the stream and the song 
 of the robin. 
 
 Gwen was so far restored that she now took her part in 
 the regular household work, and, although she never alluded 
 to the past, apparently never remembered it, she was inter- 
 ested in all the events of the present. Silvan Vaughan 
 spent half his time at Doloer, sitting quietly on the hearth 
 with Gwen, and weaving with her the green rushes into 
 all sorts of fanciful and useful articles. He had even suc- 
 ceeded in enticing her into the garden, and from there to 
 the shore, where the two pathetic figures might be seen at 
 sunset, walking slowly together at the edge of the waves ; 
 both bent under the weight of sorrow more than years — 
 both happy in the simple intercourse of renewed com- 
 panionship, and both wearing the green rush hats which 
 had helped so materially to occupy the long hours of mental 
 convalescence. 
 
 " There's happy they are ! " said Miriel, looking through 
 the little side window, lago and Betta peering over her 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Yes," said lago, " but, in my deed, there's sad they are 
 too ! Why is it that age robs us of so much of the charm 
 of life ? " 
 
 " It is not age," said Miriel ; " 'tis the memory of the
 
 Ubc ''Sea 6uirs" Brrlval 145 
 
 past, I am thinking. Their days could not have been so 
 pleasant as ours, whatever." 
 
 " Well, indeed," said lago, " I hope the memory of these 
 happy days will not bend our shoulders like that ! But 
 Betta and I must go ; to-night we must be busy tidying the 
 garden and cleaning up the clos — our Phil is a particular 
 gentleman, and we must have all neat and straight before 
 he comes to the new home." 
 
 " When will he come ? " Miriel asked. 
 
 " I don't know, but any moment ; 'tis from there he will 
 come," and he pointed straight to the north-west. " See, 
 my father is pointing it out to Gwen. Anw'l ! anw'l ! 
 he is wearing himself out with longing and looking 
 forward ; Phil is the apple of his eye," he said, with a 
 little pain in his voice. 
 
 " Not more than you," said Betta, " only Phil is absent, 
 and you are with him always." 
 
 "Yes, like the son in the parable," said lago, laughing. 
 " Well, I won't be jealous like him, whatever. Come, lass," 
 and they went out together, while Miriel went to the 
 orchard carrying one of Gwen's green rush baskets, and 
 gathered the apples which hung low from the loaded 
 trees. 
 
 Next day at broad noon Betta came running breathlessly 
 down the slope. " Miriel ! Miriel ! " she called, "come out 
 and see ! the Sea Gull is crossing the bay. Uncle Sil sent 
 me down ; he is like a wild man with joy, and 'tis all lago 
 can do to keep him calm. They are going to Porthlidan in 
 the car to meet Phil." 
 
 Miriel ran into the garden at her call, and, looking out to 
 sea, saw a sight that is hard to be beaten by any other in 
 tlie world for beauty and grace and the suggestion of hope 
 and joy. The Sea Oull was there, coming in from the west, 
 every sail set, her blue pennon fluttering in the wind, her 
 cordage decorated with flags and ribbons of every colour, 
 for Captain Phil was fully aware of the interest and excite- 
 
 K
 
 146 m tbe Mings of tbe M(n^ 
 
 ment which Lis arrival would cause, so had called into 
 requisition every flag or strip of bunting to mark his first 
 appearance in the bay. Even in Miriel's heart there was a 
 flutter of excitement as she ran in to fetch Nanti Gwen, 
 and when they both stood on the garden hedge together 
 and saw the bright scarves and streamers which fluttered 
 from every window at Hafod, she too must needs bring out 
 her light blue scarf and wave it aloft in welcome to the 
 long-expected one, while Gwen fluttered her scarlet shawl 
 in the sea breeze. 
 
 " Oh ! there she goes — Stivin ! — Mali ! — come and see how 
 she flings the foam from her prow — how she rides over the 
 waves like a real sea gull ! Oh ! 'tis no wonder lago and 
 his father are proud this day ! And Betta," she thought, 
 *' poor Betta must hide her joy." 
 
 It was not long before she saw the car drive out from 
 the Hafod clos, bearing lago and his father dressed in 
 their best suits. The gay ship drawing nearer and nearer 
 until almost Miriel could see the sailors who walked the 
 deck ; at last she was out of sight round the corner of the 
 bay to Porthlidan. 
 
 " They will not be back till evening," she thought, "so I 
 will run up to see Betta. There's happy she'll be ! " and 
 hurrying up the slope she soon reached the house, where 
 she sought her friend in vain. 
 
 In and out of the boidy, in the living-room, in the clos 
 and garden she called, but could get no answer, and she 
 was about to give up the search, when a sound reached her 
 ear that led her to a little cupboard room which Betta had 
 prepared for her own occupation, while the lloft had been 
 vacated in favour of Phil. Up the rough ladder which led 
 to it Miriel climbed, until, arriving on the floor of the 
 cupboard, she saw Betta lying on her bed and sobbing 
 passionately. 
 
 " Betta ! " she cried, " what is it, lass 1 " but the girl 
 sobbed on. " Oh, Betta ! answer me ; wliat is it ? "
 
 Ube '*Sca OuU's" Hrrival 147 
 
 " I don't know, indeed," she at last answered, sitting 
 apon her bed. " I don't know what are these foolish tears. 
 'Tis overjoyed I am, I think, and having to keep it all to 
 myself is so hard, Miriel. lago and Uncle Sil can show 
 their joy and welcome him home, but I must hide mine 
 like a cold stone, and show no joy when he arrives. Oh ! 
 'tis cruel — cruel — and sometimes I feel I cannot bear it." 
 
 " But he will know that 'tis not like a stone you feel, 
 Betta," said Miriel, " and 'tis hard, indeed, for you, and I 
 cannot understand it — Betta, dost know my heart is aching 
 for thee, lass ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes — I know, and there ! 'tis over now. I will go 
 to the spring and bathe my eyes, and you shall see me, 
 Miriel, how clever I will be for Phil's sake." 
 
 " Will you put on your brown gown with the yellow 
 spots, Betta, and your yellow silk kerchief ? There's pretty 
 you look in that." 
 
 " No," she said, " I must not change my gown, or Uncle 
 Sil would notice it." 
 
 And for this hardship Miriel felt the deepest sympathy 
 with her friend. It touched her woman's heart, for she 
 knew that for lago's eyes she herself had often searched 
 the coffer for some extra bit of finery. She passed her arm 
 round Betta's neck, and their two cheeks leant closely to 
 each other for a few moments, until, catching sight of their 
 reflection in the little looking-glass which hung against the 
 window, they both laughed, and Betta's tears were dried. 
 There was no further possibility of work for Miriel that 
 day, for continually she ran out to the porch to watch the 
 road from Porthlidan. Every time she ran out the goats 
 bleated at her, and the pigeons rose from the roof and 
 alighted again with the musical rhythm of their wings, but 
 it was quite late before she saw against the pale yellow of 
 the sky the black outlines of the car and its occupants. 
 Yes, there were three — so she knew that Silvan Vaughan s 
 heart was at rest, and Betta's unrest had begun. Next
 
 148 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 day, while she worked at her herb bed, she saw, with a 
 flutter of excitement. Silvan Vaughan with Phil and lago 
 enter the garden, and the awkward shyness of a country 
 girl would have completely crushed her, had not curiosity 
 and the simplicity of her nature thrust into the background 
 all self-consciousness. Throwing her rake away she ad- 
 vanced with a smile of welcome, but had almost started 
 with surprise at the sight of Silvan Vaughan's eldest son. 
 It is seldom that we behold a human being who in every 
 outward particular fulfils our ideal of beauty, but such did 
 Philip Vaughan. Perfect symmetry of form and features 
 were his ; his brown hair shone with gold touches ; in his 
 dark blue eyes there was the gleam of stars ; all his move- 
 ments were graceful and supple, yet withal manly. His 
 dress, unlike that of the country youth, chosen in good taste 
 and of English fashion, showed off the graces and manliness 
 of his form. Never had a creature of such mould and 
 features risen on Miriel's horizon, and when he spoke and 
 entered into familiar conversation with her, she felt the 
 charm of his presence, as did every man, woman or child 
 who came within the sphere of its influence. 
 
 "Welcome home, indeed," she said, "and I am sorry 
 that 'tis an earthy hand I will have to give you." 
 
 "Oh! bless it," said Phil, laughing, "'tis Jie good old 
 soil of Cymrn, that I have longed to see for the last six 
 months." 
 
 "Well ! there's glad we are to see you," said Miriel, "and 
 there's fine the Sea Gull looked ; she seemed like a bird 
 flying in from the west." 
 
 "Yes, 'on the wings of the wind,'" said Phil, "as lago 
 was singing all the way from Porthlidan. He has been 
 telling me all about you here, and how you spend your 
 evenings singing under the big chimney. Jar i ! you do 
 well to drive the blue devils away with music, for it seems 
 to me there's nothing else to do so here." 
 
 " Blue devils ! what are they 1 " said Miriel, " but come
 
 Ube **Sea Oull's" HiTival 149 
 
 into the house and see Nanti Gwen. I hear her and lago 
 talking, they are great friends," and in through the old 
 porch they entered the living-room, where lago and Gwen 
 made room for them on the hearth. Phil held out his 
 hand. 
 
 " And how are you, Nanti Gweni You see, I know you 
 all, and I am come to take my place amongst you for 
 a good while, so prepare your good tempers and rub up 
 your spirits, all of you, for I tell you the dumps and I are 
 sworn enemies." 
 
 " The dumps and blue devils ! Indeed, we never heard 
 of them before," said Miriel. 
 
 " You are making us acquainted with strangers, Phil," 
 said lago. 
 
 "Well, indeed, I am glad," said Phil; "but this place 
 looked like a good home for them — this part of the world, I 
 mean, for sure this lassie looks blithesome enough " — and 
 he touched Miriel's shoulders as she passed with a little 
 familiarity which she rather shrank from. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan laughed indulgently at the young 
 man's remarks ; he seemed to have grown younger since 
 yesterday, so bright was his eye, so cheerful his 
 demeanour. 
 
 "Will you stop and have your cawl with us?" said 
 Miriel. 
 
 "No, no," said Silvan Vaughan. "There is a grand 
 dinner cooking for us — two fat ducks and an apple 
 pudding." 
 
 " Oh ! well, indeed, then be bound Betta is busy." 
 
 "Yes, she hasn't a word to cast at us," said Phil, rising, 
 with a yawn. " 'Tis time to go, I'm thinking." 
 
 "We'll come down in the evening," he said, without 
 waiting to be asked, "and we'll send a roaring chorus 
 up that old chimney," and he went out humming the 
 old refrain : — 
 
 " Sailing home ! Sailing home ! "
 
 ISO ®n tbe Minos of tbe 'min'C> 
 
 After this came a time of gaiety and dissipation to the 
 "lone" shore. There was tea at Hafod, to which Gwen 
 and Miriel were invited, with oatcake and white bread, 
 and piles of light cakes. Then of course came tea at 
 Doloer, and for the first time in her life Miriel entertained 
 company, and the excitement of the preparations was, as 
 Mali said, " something beyond ! " The tea was bought at 
 Tregarreg, the best that could be procured, the light cakes 
 mixed by Mali from the old Tygwyn recipe, Gwen taking 
 much interest in their preparation. Then came the 
 harvest feasts, not to speak of visits to fairs and markets, 
 for Phil's exuberant spirits seemed to find the confines 
 of the slope with its two isolated dwellings too narrow. 
 Miriel and Gwen entored but sparingly into the fresh 
 excitement of Hafod, but went on their way with the old 
 rustic peace. And what of JJetta? A curious change 
 seemed to have come over her ; immersed in the household 
 duties, she was seldom seen in clos or garden, and Miriel 
 felt as though a veil were falling between her and her 
 bosom friend. She tried by many little hints and in- 
 nuendoes to induce Betta once more to reopen the subject 
 of her love for Phil, but the girl seemed altered, and if she 
 ever mentioned him, it was with an evident wish to impress 
 upon Miriel that she no longer felt any interest in him. 
 Miriel was guileless and unsuspicious as the daylight, and 
 therefore was easily deceived. She seldom saw Betta in 
 Phil's company, but, when she did, the girl's heightened 
 colour, her shining eyes, and her nervous, restless way were 
 scarcely accounted for by Phil's cold and indificrent 
 manner. He seldom spoke to her excepting in the natural 
 course of conversation, and Miriel almost came to believe 
 that, whatever had been their intimacy in the past, there 
 was nothing now more than the ordinary cousinly feeling 
 between them. Sometimes she fancied that Betta 's eyes 
 showed signs of weeping, but when taxed with it she 
 indignantly denied, " Crying, indeed ! what will I be crying
 
 XLbc "Sea Gull's " arrival 151 
 
 about, any more than you, Miriel 1 " and in the evenings 
 when she still kept up the old custom of joining the circle 
 on Doloer hearth, her high spirits and merry repartees 
 were calculated to make them all believe that her heart was 
 free from every thought of love or sorrow ; her rich, ripe 
 beauty seemed to have gained in expression, so that Miriel 
 often wondered that she had not sooner realised how 
 beautiful she was. 
 
 " There's red Betta's lips are," she said one day. 
 
 " Yes, I think she grows prettier every day," said lago, 
 while Phil said nothing, but hummed a merry refrain : — 
 
 *' Lips like two cherries, 
 Teetii like the snow, 
 Eyes like black berries, 
 She bothers me so ! " 
 
 Betta did not hear, or pretended not to, while Silvan 
 Vaughan looked keenly from one to another, and turning to 
 Gwen said, — 
 
 " 'Tis in Liverpool Phil learns all the pretty speeches he 
 makes to the lassies ; he is very silent about his cousin, 
 but I'm thinking 'tis a sly dog is Phil, and we'll be hearing 
 of a wedding very soon." 
 
 " ' The church bells are ringing. 
 The doors open wide, 
 The bridegroom is waiting, 
 But where is the bride ? ' " 
 
 sang Phil. 
 
 " What will we sing to-night," said lago. 
 
 " What better than ' Hob y dery dando,' " answered Pliil, 
 and they sat till late with songs and choruses following one 
 upon another, until Nanti Gwen was tired and went to bed, 
 when the others dispersed and Miriel was left alone on the 
 hearth. The August day had been calm and serene and 
 was now succeeded by a crystal colourless sky. A few 
 faint clouds of rose and gold still trailed across the horizon 
 to show that day had not long departed, while over the sea
 
 15 2 «S>n tbc XCliiujs ot tbc ^Utn^ 
 
 one brilliant star hung glittering to herald the approaching 
 night. The sea heaved softly like the breathing of a 
 sleeping cliild, and the beauty of the scene called irre- 
 sistibly to Miriel. One run over the shore before she 
 closed the door she felt she must have, and, crossing over 
 the soft grass, she stepped on to the softer sands, where she 
 was soon running across the beach to the rocks and 
 boulders that strewed the further side of the shore. Here 
 in a cleft of the rock she sat and gazed out to sea, where a 
 ship was riding at anchor in wait for the flow of the tide, a 
 Ksht on her mast moving slowlv with the rise and fall 
 of the waves. It was a night to cast a spell of musing over 
 any romantic or sympathetic nature, and Miriel soon drifted 
 in thought away from her surrotmdings. "^hy, she could 
 not tell, but the soft evening glow, the glistening waters 
 before her, brought to her mind a different scene ; a quaint 
 old room, a broad, low window with diamond panes, beyond 
 which streaks of crimson and gold lay on a swift, rushing 
 river. Within, a solitary man, who looked towards the 
 sunset with a world of thought and sadness in his dark 
 eyes. She bad wandered far indeed, but was suddenly 
 recalled by a sound so strange and so unusual on that lonely 
 shore, that she started in astonishment ; a pleasant sound 
 it was too, that of two young voices, who talked in soft, low 
 tones, almost in whispers. They drew nearer, and Miriel 
 watched breathlessly, while out of the grey twUight 
 appeared Phil and Betta. Her first impulse was to 
 call to them, even to join them, but surprise kept her 
 silent for a moment, and in that moment they had passed 
 into the shadow of the cliff, while on her mind was left 
 a clear impression of the closeness of their intimacy. How 
 shyly happy had Betta's dark face appeared, how tenderly 
 protecting Phil's, as he bent his tall head a little over his 
 companion's. In a few moments they were out of sight, 
 and Miriel turned towards home full of vague fears of she 
 knew not what.
 
 P A R 7' II
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE CHAIR BARD 
 
 When on the following day Betta and Phil entered Doloer 
 together, Miriel could scarcely disguise the keen interest 
 with which she watched them, but she could detect no 
 difference in their outward demeanour ; there was the same 
 cool indifference in Phil's looks and the same merry non- 
 chalance in Betta's ; an occasional tremor in the latter's 
 eyelids when Phil spoke, alone showing the girl was alive 
 to his presence and to every intonation of his voice. 
 
 lago's visits had been less frequent of late, and Miriel 
 missed his pleasant, homely face. 
 
 " 'Tis busy I am," he said in answer to her inquiries one 
 day. " The Eisteddfod is drawing near, and I have been 
 writing something to send in — after it is over you will be 
 tired of me again." 
 
 But if lago's visits had been few and far between, not 
 so Phil's ; he haunted Doloer morning, noon and night, 
 following Miriel's movements with eyes that made no 
 attempt to hide their admiration. Sometimes she playfully 
 threatened to sweep him out, and frequently left him to 
 Nanti Gwen's society while she went to work in the garden. 
 Phil laughingly refused to be swept away, but being left 
 alone on the hearth was little to his taste, and one day 
 when Miriel took up her basket, saying, " Well, I will go 
 and gather some plums, because you two will be company," 
 he had looked annoyed and angry. 
 
 ♦'Nay, I will gather the plums for you," he said, follow- 
 
 155
 
 156 ®n tbe mUxQS ot tbe MtnD 
 
 ing her into the garden, and under the laden trees he stood 
 and reached down the branches while Miriel plucked the 
 ripe blue fruit, and filled her basket. "Why do you run 
 away from me, Miriel?" he said at last. " 'Tisn't often 
 I've to ask the lassies that." She was reaching up to a tall 
 bough at the moment, and, looking round at him, she said, 
 with a dimpled smile, " Why do you run after me then, 
 Phil? I am obliged to run away." 
 
 The laughing face, the slender form were witliin his 
 reach, and it was not Philip who could withstand the 
 temptation ! so suddenly clasping her round the waist he 
 drew lier towards him and stole a kiss. Miriel wrenched 
 herself from his grasp, the hot blood crimsoned her face, 
 her eyes flashed, " How dare you ! " she said, and, stamping 
 her foot, she repeated, " How dare you, Philip Vaughan 1 
 I am not liking your double ways." 
 
 " Double ways, lodes, what's the matter ? — and what 
 do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean that I will tell Betta 'tis mean and wicked 
 of you to court her and flatter her, and then be false to 
 her." 
 
 "Betta!" said Phil. "What's the girl talking about ? 
 Betta and I are cousins, and surely, though I am fond 
 enough of her, yet I can kiss a pretty girl when I see 
 her." 
 
 " Well, then," said Miriel, and again she stamped her 
 foot upon the grass, " 'tis not me, Miriel Lloyd, of Doloer, 
 you will kiss, so there ! " 
 
 Phil burst into loud laughter, his eyes danced with fun, 
 and seeming no whit abashed he stood back a few paces, 
 as if to watch her with greater advantage. " Well — tan i 
 marw ! " he said, " look at the little peppercorn ! she's 
 enough to frighten a mouse," and he laughed again, while 
 Miriel stood flushed and angry before him. "'Tis not 
 me, the Queen of England, that's going to kiss you ! " he 
 repeated, strutting about and stamping his foot in imita-
 
 Ubc Cbair Bar& 157 
 
 tion of Miriel's littlo gust of passion. "Oh, will I ever 
 forget it 1 But, Miriel, lodes ! " he added suddenly, and 
 holding out his hand, "come, shake hands, let's be friends 
 again." 
 
 " Well, indeed, Phil, I will not be friends with you 
 unless you promise never to do that again." 
 
 "Do what again?" said Phil, with provoking merriment. 
 
 " Never kiss me again." 
 
 "In my deed, I can't promise," he replied, and Miriel 
 without a word tossed her head proudly and turned towards 
 the house. 
 
 Phil, still unabashed, marched beside her with the same 
 air of offended dignity, and, tossing his head, said, "The 
 Queen is going home to Windsor." Miriel tried not to 
 laugh, but had to hurry indoors lest Phil might see how 
 entirely the cloud of anger had fled from her face. 
 
 And then they once more fell into the old groove of 
 friendly intimacy, for it was impossible to be angry long 
 with Silvan Vaughan's handsome son, and Miriel took no 
 other steps than to avoid being alone within him, a course 
 which Philip, although he rather resented it, treated with 
 laughing contempt. " I'll catch you some day, Miriel," he 
 said, and continually, when the occasion suited, he alluded 
 to her "fit of fury " as he called it. " Get away, Kit and 
 Brythen," he would say, when Miriel shoo'd them from the 
 doorway, "'tisn't me, the Queen of England, that's going 
 to be bothered by you " — what could she do with such a bold 
 and thoughtless fellow ? 
 
 What but stand aside and let the simple rustic drama 
 pass before her, a drama so insignificant to the great world, 
 but so all-important to the actors who took part in it. 
 
 Mali Storrom returned from Tregarreg on market-day, 
 full of excitement about the great event which was occupy 
 ing the thoughts and pens of many a cottage and home- 
 stead. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! " she cried, " there's grand the town is.
 
 158 ®n tbe Wiims ot tbe Wiinb 
 
 with papers, yellow, red and blue on the walls and on the 
 bridge, and letters prainted on them as big as my shoe, but 
 if they were a mile long I couldn't read them. Oh, you 
 never saw such a thing ! " and her closed fist came down 
 on the table at regular intervals to mark her words. 
 
 "A big tilt in a field, with red and blue flaags all over 
 it. And Doctor Dan is to be one of the jidges, there ! 
 And three old women are going to sing a hymn for a prize, 
 there ! And there's to be little tilts with food and sweets 
 all round the field, there ! And I saw the chair that the 
 chief bard is to have for a prize, all carved it is, and standing 
 in Jones, the cabinet's, window ! " 
 
 "Woa!" said Phil. "Mali fach ! have a drink of 
 meth." 
 
 " Go along with you," said Mali, laughing. " I haven't 
 told you half yet, but I'll come in after tea and tell you 
 the rest. Be bound that yollin has not got the kettle 
 boiling." 
 
 When she had gone they all laughed at her excitement, 
 but still all had drunk in eagerly every scrap of informa- 
 tion concerning the Eisteddfod. lago was silent but 
 listened \vith interest. For many an hour he had absented 
 himself from the home circle to spend it alone with his 
 paper and pen, shut up in a tiny room which ho had with 
 his own hands boarded off from the hayloft. 
 
 The results of those hours of retirement he had now 
 submitted to the Eisteddfod Committee, and notwithstand- 
 ing his calm disposition he could not suppress an eager 
 anxiety as to the adjudication. 
 
 The Eisteddfod filled everyone's thoughts and was on 
 everyone's lips. To Miriel it was a subject of intense 
 curiosity, for hitherto she had never attended the national 
 gathering ; besides, she had not forgotten Doctor Dan's sug- 
 gestion as to another tea at Hendyrafon, and that event 
 she felt would be the most delightful hour of the long- 
 looked-for day. Both Stivin and Mali had intended to
 
 Zbc Cbalr Bar& 159 
 
 trudge into town, never dreaming that Miriel, the stay-at- 
 home, who had spent her short life in contented solitude, 
 had any idea of attending the meetings. Upon her mak- 
 ing known to them her intention of doing so, however, Mali 
 indignantly denied having ever thought of being present 
 herself, much to Stivin's bewilderment, for he had taken 
 every meal for the last fortnight to the accompaniment of 
 Mali's conjectures, weather forecasts and anticipations 
 connected with her intended trip to the 'Steddfod, 
 
 " Me go — no, 'merch i ! not I ! 'tis at home with Gwen 
 I will be. Ach y fi ! what would I be going there for 1 
 An old woman hke me — 'Steddfod, indeed ! " 
 
 Stivin scratched his head. "Well, will I go?" he asked 
 in an abject voice ludicrously unlike his usual stentorian 
 tones. 
 
 " Oh ! Thou ! " said Mali. " I don't see what an old 
 dolt like thee could do better. Yes, go, and bring us home 
 a close account of it." For, with all her sharpness and her 
 hasty temper, Mali Storrom was entirely unselfish, and for 
 Miriel or Gwen she would have sacrificed more, far more, 
 than a day's outing. 
 
 The month sped on, and at last came the 27 th, the day 
 before the 'Steddfod, and all was outwardly bright and 
 happy anticipation of the following day's events, though 
 the calm and restful peace of the summer days had 
 departed, leaving behind a subtle sense of change. 
 
 lago looked anxious and Phil more restless and irritable. 
 Betta alone retained her blithesome cheerfulness, but, in 
 spite of her mirth and sprightliuess, Miriel felt some 
 change had come over the girl whom she had learnt to look 
 upon as her bosom friend. There was nothing tangible 
 that she could complain of, but a veil seemed to hang 
 between them, and so Miriel, too, shared a little in the 
 general feeling of disquietude. 
 
 She was filled with doubt and embarrassment regarding 
 her visit to Doctor Dan when the Eisteddfod should be
 
 i6o ®n tbe Minos of tbe Mlnb 
 
 over. Had he forgotten all about it ? would she dare to 
 make her way alone to that quaint arched doorway? 
 Well ! if the worst came to the worst she could remain 
 with Betta, but in that case she felt that the day would 
 lose more than half its charm for her. Very often she 
 looked up to the brow of the slope, hoping to see the 
 swinging gig with its usual occupants, but no such sight 
 came to reassure her. 
 
 At last it came — the long-expected day. Before ten 
 o'clock Miriel was standing in the Hafod clos, where Betta 
 and Phil and lago were gathered round the car that was to 
 bear them to town. 
 
 Stivin had started an hour earlier, and Mali stood in the 
 porch at Doloer watching them and energetically waving 
 her apron as they left the clos — lago and Miriel in front, 
 Phil and Betta behind. 
 
 " You won't trust me to drive, I suppose 1 " said Phil. 
 " Well, perhaps we'll be safer with the old prophet in 
 front" — for this was the term by which he generally 
 designated lago. 
 
 " Why do you call him the ' old prophet ' ? " Miriel had 
 asked once. 
 
 "Well," he answered, "doesn't *Iago' come just before 
 ' Hebrews ' in the Testament ? " 
 
 " No ; after — " said Miriel. 
 
 " Oh, after then, 'tis all the same, he's among the 
 prophets somewhere," and lago had good-naturedly accepted 
 his name. 
 
 Out of the clos and on to the high road, upon which 
 Miriel had startled Samson so much on her first acquaint- 
 ance with Doctor Dan — she recalled the circumstance as 
 she passed the bend in the bank, which Samson had taken 
 so bravely, and she wondered within herself how so few 
 months could have changed her so much. Above them the 
 clear, blue sky of August stretched without a cloud, a 
 crisp, fresh breeze blew in from the sea, swaying the
 
 Ube Cbair Bar& i6i 
 
 branches a little, and reminding them that autumn was 
 coming. 
 
 The birds that had sung in those branches when they 
 had last driven that way were silent, the throstle had 
 fledged her young ones, and her work was over, the cuckoo 
 that had made the valley ring with his call was silent, but, 
 above them, the larks still sang ecstatically, and that 
 merry company missed nothing of joy and delight as they 
 passed under the over-arching sycamore trees, now laden 
 with their tasselled horseshoes. Not a cloud shaded the 
 brilliant sunshine. 
 
 They had not driven far before they came upon signs of 
 the approaching gaieties in the form of a long red waggon, 
 which emerged from a side lane, bearing a load of happy 
 cliildren — a juvenile choir, whose little hearts were filled 
 with ardent hopes of a prize. Their driver smacked his 
 whip, the two big farm horses trotted on, the bright har- 
 ness jingled, and the children sang the glee which they had 
 practised for weeks in the village schoolroom. lago and 
 Phil cheered when they came to an end, and, encouraged, 
 the children began again. 
 
 At the door of a little wayside inn they passed a brake in 
 which a brass band was refreshing itself on its way ; from 
 every cottage door as they passed, the goodwife came out 
 with her brood of little ones decked in their finest feathers, 
 and, locking the house door, walked sedately beside her 
 husband towards the town. 
 
 Here was old Gruffydd Jones, like a great green beetle, 
 carrying his harp on his back in its green baize covering, 
 and requiring all lago's good driving to induco Nero to pass 
 him. Here was Meredyth Owen, the blacksmith, from the 
 On Valley, a tenor whose voice was well known and 
 admired throughout the county. To-day as he trudged to 
 town, his head held high, his broad slioulders thrown back, 
 it was evident he hoped to add fresh laurels to his fame. 
 Carts, scarlet and blue, laden with merrymakers, thronged 
 
 L
 
 1 62 m tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 the road, and to Miriel the scene was one of intense 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Phil cracked his jokes and Betta laughed at them all, 
 good and bad, and Miriel's very heart sang with joy as 
 they entered the quaint little town, gay with flags and 
 crowded with happy faces. They passed Hendyrafon and 
 turned into the " Crown " yard, already filled with vehicles 
 of every description. 
 
 Their first visit was to Tim Scrivenwr's shop, where they 
 ordered their meals for the day, and found their host as 
 usual in a flurry of nervous excitement anent hia corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 " Dinner you shall have, 'merch i ! " he said to Betta. 
 " Good cawl it is, with a large piece of calf meat boiled in 
 it, and plenty of rice puddings with currants and eggs in 
 them, are standing in a row on the counter ready. Go to 
 the 'Steddfod 1 How will I go, with a letter to write for 
 Nell Jones to her husband, and one from somebody to her 
 sweetheart ; but I don't tell secrets — no, no, or the world 
 would be turned upside down ! But I'm not saying that I 
 won't have a * kiwk ' round the door of the tilt before the 
 day is over." 
 
 " Well, we'll come back and have a kiwk at you and your 
 calf meat about one o'clock," said Phil, with a rod, as they 
 left the house. 
 
 In the street the air was full of talk and laughter, and 
 through all a subdued murmur of music, for in many an 
 inn parlour as they passed there were glees and choruses 
 tried over for the last time. 
 
 As they reached the field in which the large tent had 
 been erected, Miriel and Betta were silent with astonish- 
 ment and excitement, merely ejaculating an occasional 
 " anw'l ! " as the novelties of the scene greeted their eyes. 
 
 The fresh west wind flapped the scalloped borderings of 
 the t^nt and fluttered the flag which rose from its pointed 
 roof. At the various openiugs the crowd thronged in or
 
 TLbc Cbafr 3Bar^ 163 
 
 out, while the busy officials, each decorated with a leek of 
 green satin, endeavoured to keep some show of order. 
 
 Miriel and Betta, accompanied by Phil and lago, were 
 soon piloted to their sea,ts. Behind them row upon row of 
 expectant faces thronged the tent to its very end, in front 
 of them rose the wooden platform upon which sat the 
 President and the most important officials, the rival choirs 
 and other competitors ascending and descending in their 
 turns. 
 
 Many of my readers are familiar with the ordinary 
 customs of an Eisteddfod. To them the details of the pro- 
 gramme would be wearying and unnecessary ; to others, 
 who are totally unacquainted with its routine, it would also 
 be uninteresting, but by Miriel and Betta every succeeding 
 detail was watched with absorbing interest, and hour fol- 
 lowed hour without bringing the slightest abatement to 
 their enthusiasm. How they clapped and cheered the 
 successful, and how they pitied the failures ! How Miriel's 
 eyes glistened with tears when Meredyth Owen sang his 
 pathetic song and won a prize ! and how Betta laughed 
 when one of the competitors, catching his foot in the 
 boards, made a lower bow than he intended. You should 
 have been at Hafod in the evening to hear when Phil 
 recounted it all for his father's amusement. But it would 
 be impossible to describe the flutter of excitement with 
 which Miriel saw Doctor Dan appear upon the platform — 
 his advent being greeted by a storm of applause. It was 
 well known that he was the most popular man in the 
 district, and the large audience seemed determined to let 
 him know it on this occasion. To Miriel, that storm of 
 welcome was overwhelming — she had never heard the 
 unanimous voice of a large assemblage before, and she 
 turned pale with emotion as she watched the tall figure, the 
 broad shoulders and the dark eyes which she knew so well 
 looking round that thronged pa\ilion with a smUe of 
 gratified acknowledgment.
 
 "Jar i. " whispoixHl rhilip. "it must Ix"* rt slrangi'' fivling 
 and, in tny utwl. a pU\isai\t ono to Iv givotod with thtvt 
 iwiritio- woloomo." 
 
 " llusli, hu$h ! what is ho saying t" said lago ; and thov 
 listonixi iutoutly whilo Dootor Pan spoko a tow words of 
 thai\ks tv^ liis foUow-ooiintryinoT\. prootH\hng to dolivor tho 
 adjudiorttion upon tho Odo tor wluih tho Ixvrdic Chair 
 was to bo tho pri.o. 
 
 Thoiv was a pauso of divp siUM\oo, during whioh Miriol 
 hoaixl l>or hoart Ivat. and Tago grasjwi tho ohair in front 
 of liim. 
 
 " It is uiy duty also," tho sjxwkor wont on to sav. " to 
 mako known to you w ho aro horo assou\blod today, that 
 N\o. having duly and without pivjudioo considoreil tho 
 ri'sjxvtivo uiorits of tho sovoral odos whioh woiv sont in 
 for our ndjudioation. aftor uuioh thought and dolibonuion. 
 havo cvmo to tho uitanimous dooision that of tho six nanios 
 sont in, • 0;uivan ' alono is worthy of tho pri.v, and to him 
 wo ha\o givat ploasuiv in awaaiing tho Ivvitiio Chair. If 
 ' Crtdvan ■ is not pi\\?ont, a^^^.•ol^^iug to tho rules of tho 
 EistOv^dfi.xi tho pri::o goos to tho noxt oou^potitor ii\ onior 
 of morit, but. if ho is prosout., we now oall upon him to 
 appoar upon this platform." 
 
 Thoiv woiv a fow momoi\ts of biwithloss silonce and tJion 
 oamo tho o;vll of ' Cadvan " fi\>m tho platform. " ' Cadvan ! ' '* 
 shout^ni tho audionoo ; aitd " ' Cadvsvn, Cadvau ! ' " oalloil 
 rhilip. lago aUnio wa.s jvilo and silont. 
 
 " Miriol. it is T," ho whispoiwi. " I ;vm ■ Cadvai^.' '' 
 And, rising, ho mado his way to the stops which kni up to 
 tho platform. 
 
 No ono had notiotxi liim as ho passixl tlirv">ugh the oxoittxi 
 crv>wd. but now whon tho youthful tiguiv. and jvvlo, intel- 
 lectual faco turittxi on tho platform to faco tlioui, the 
 storm of applause fairly slux->k tho canv;\s walls of tho touts 
 Cheer after chetn* ivnt tho air as tho Tivsiaont, Doct^^r 
 Dai\. and many others pressed t"orwai\i to shake hauds
 
 Zbc Cbalr Barb 165 
 
 with the hero of the hour ; while Philip, Betta and Miriel 
 were silent from sheer excess of feeling. Many of those 
 who occupied the seats in front and behind them con- 
 gratulated them warmly, and Miriel felt such a day had 
 never dawned upon her Vjefore. Then came the " chairing 
 of the bard," when lago, seated in the carved oak chair, 
 looked, not unmoved, over the sea of faces before him. He 
 turned a little paler than usual, when the chief bards 
 gathered round him, and, according to the ancient custom 
 handed down by the earliest ELsteddfodic traditions, held 
 over his head a sheathed sword while they asked in a loud 
 voice, " Is there peace 'i " And from thousands of throats 
 came the answers in a loud shout of " Peace." This 
 question was asked and answered three times, while 
 handkerchiefs and scarves waved and pretty faces smiled 
 at him. Then came many warm handshakes and heart- 
 felt congratulations, many of these in impromptu verse. 
 
 A speech was called for, and poor lago rose to his feet 
 feeling that he was in danger of forfeiting the ^clai which 
 he had so unexpectedly gained. For one moment he stood 
 flushed and nervous, but only for a moment ; then in clear, 
 firm tones he spoke the few words of thanks which (the 
 President whispered) were alone required, and as soon as 
 possible he stepped off the platform and mingled with the 
 crowd.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE PATH BY THE RIVER 
 
 '< Well, 'tis a grand thing," said Miriel, as they made 
 their way through the crowded street. "'Tis a grand 
 thing indeed to be walking with a bard." Everywhere 
 smiles and congratulation greeted lago, and sometimes 
 a horny hand would come down on his shoulder with 
 a hearty thump. "Well din, lad," the owner would say. 
 " There's proud of you we are ; and if it is the last shilHng 
 in my pocket I'll buy the ' verses ' when they are prainted. 
 Will that be soon ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said lago. " It is the property of the 
 Committee now." He bore his laurels very modestly, but 
 still in his heart a feeling of pride was throbbing at this 
 his first public success. It was to be followed by many 
 others, for as time went on lago Vaughan became known 
 as one of Cymrn's best modern poets ; but no success ever 
 brought him the same proud gratification as that which he 
 gained at the Tregarreg Eisteddfod. Miriel had been 
 there to see it all, and Phil had grasped his hand warmly 
 with a word of heartfelt congratulation. 
 
 They found Tim Scrivenwr writing busily between 
 his rice puddings, a spot of excitement on either cheek 
 and a sparkle in his blue eyes, his grey hair standing out 
 like porcupine quills on each side of his flushed face. 
 
 "There ! " he said, holding the letter close to lago's face. 
 " A short letter it is, but Tan i marw 'twill pinch. 'Tis to 
 
 i66
 
 ZTbe patb b^ tbe 1Riv>er 167 
 
 my son John, you see. He been stopping home a fortnight 
 in the summer, and what am I hearing after he is gone, 
 but that he been keeping company all the time with the 
 most worthless croten in the town. Wild and idle she is 
 and her clothes in jibbets." 
 
 " Is she pretty 1 " interpolated Phil. 
 
 ** What do I care for her purtiness ? This is the letter 
 I am sending to * my gentleman,' whatever — read it and 
 say won't it bring him to himself!" 
 
 lago, as requested, read the letter aloud : — 
 
 " John ! John ! John ! You villain ! You villain ! 
 You villain ! — From your undutiful father, 
 
 •'T. Jones, 'Scrivenwr.'" 
 
 " There ! " said Tim again, with a thump on the counter 
 which made the rice puddings tremble. 
 
 " Jar-i, 'tis sharp and to the point," said Phil, with a 
 wink at Betta. " He'll finish with the croten slap off 
 after reading that." 
 
 "That I think too," said Tim; "but come you, I not 
 forget the dinner — here it is all ready." And slipping his 
 pen behind his ear he led them into the little dark parlour 
 behind the shop, where they found several other people 
 already regaling themselves upon boiled veal and bacon. 
 They did full justice to the fare themselves before they 
 rejoined the throng in the street, where booths and toys in 
 plenty bespoke the festive character of the day. Phil and 
 Betta wandered away, leaving Miriel and lago to find their 
 way to the market-place, where in a corner, a patch of 
 bright colouring marked Peggi Doll's presence. 
 
 She was sitting as usual on her little black stool sur- 
 rounded by her pincushions of brilliant hue. 
 
 " Caton pawb 1" said lago. " What is this little creature?" 
 
 " An old woman," said Miriel. " I have seen her before ; 
 spiteful and mischievous she is too," and they stood amongst
 
 1 68 ®n tbe MiiiGS of tbe liminD 
 
 a group of lads and lasses who were examining her wares and 
 casting furtive glances at the little misshapen creature. 
 
 " Oh, ho ! " she said, when a movement in the crowd left 
 lago and Miriel alone standing before her. " You have come 
 again ? and this is your sweetheart, I suppose ! " she added, 
 looking keenly at lago, who, colouring deeply, returned her 
 look with one of embarrassment and anger. 
 
 " I am not so lucky, little woman," he said ; " but we are 
 companions to-day. Will you sell us a pincushion ? " 
 
 "Take your choice," and she pointed to the bright array. 
 
 " "Well ! You haven't followed your aunt yet, I suppose 1 " 
 she said, looking at Miriel. 
 
 At this moment a hand was laid on the latter's shoulder, 
 a touch that sent the blood surging to her face. 
 
 " Miriel ! " said a well-known voice, " I have been looking 
 for you everywhere in the crowd. Do you remember your 
 promise to come to Hendyrafon to tea ? Betti has all sorts 
 of cakes prepared for you." 
 
 " Yes, indeed I will come ; I had not forgotten." 
 
 " Will you come too 1 " said Doctor Dan, turning to lago. 
 " I should be proud to have the Chair Bard at my table." 
 
 "No, sir, thank you," answered lago, a little stiffly. "T 
 have promised to be with my brother and my cousin." 
 
 " Then good-bye ; I cannot stay, Miriel, there are people 
 waiting for me in the surgery. Come early," and he hurried 
 away. 
 
 Miriel turned her attention once more to the pincushions, 
 the smile remaining on her lips and the colour on her face. 
 Peggi Doll had been watching her with a keen, mahcious 
 glance. " Oh, that's how it goes ?" she muttered to herself, 
 adding aloud, "Well, as I was saying, you haven't followed 
 your aunt's example yet ! " and laughing her croaking, harsh 
 laugh, she looked from one to the other of the young people. 
 Suddenly her eye gleamed, "Oh, ho!" she exclaimed, rub- 
 bing her little crooked hands together, " I know you too now, 
 my man ! Well done ! Silvan Vaughan's son and Matti
 
 XTbe path bp tbe IRiver 169 
 
 Lloyd's niece together ! Ho, ho, ho ! there are strange things 
 in the world." 
 
 " What d'ye mean ? " said Miriel, indignantly. " You are 
 always talking about Nanti Matti. What do you know 
 about her, I'd like to know?" 
 
 " What do I know about her ? " said Peggi, her eyes gleam- 
 ing with cruel enjoyment of the girl's vexation. " What 
 every boy that whistled down the street knew fifteen years 
 ago. How she was going to be married to Doctor Dan, and 
 how she jilted him and ran away with Silvan Vaughan, and 
 he plighted to her own sister all the time, and how she 
 returned home in a year's time a miserable woman, as she 
 deserved to be ! Ho, ho, ho ! " and she laughed again as if 
 she had recounted a pleasant joke. 
 
 " Are you a liar, woman ? " said lago. " A cruel fiend I 
 believe you are, that enjoys to see people suffer." 
 
 "I am not a liar today, whatever," said Peggi Doll, 
 with a chuckle. 
 
 "Gome, Miriel," said lago. "Let us go back to the 
 Eisteddfod ; " and together they turned away. 
 
 " Tago, lago ! it is dreadful," said Miriel. " That witch 
 has filled my heart with sorrowful thoughts." 
 
 " And mine, indeed ! I wonder what teaching has God in 
 store for such creatures as that ! " 
 
 " Is it true, do you think, that she has been telling us 1 " 
 
 " I think it is," answered lago, gloomily. " It makes it 
 all plain to me." 
 
 " Yes ; poor Nanti Matti's life of continual penance till 
 she died from sorrow and her own hard usage ! Nanti Gwen's 
 madness, oh ! I see it all." 
 
 " Yes," said lago, with downcast looks. " I feel it is all 
 true, and it explains to me my poor father's state of mind, 
 his sleepless nights, his fits of gloom. Yes, 'tis all true ! 
 But, Miriel, I am sure he is truly repentant, and there is 
 forgiveness for those who truly repent, whatever their sins 
 may have been, though they cannot forget."
 
 I70 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Wiinb 
 
 "Yes, oh! yes, indeed!" she said, and was silent again 
 until, seeing Phil and Betta approaching, lago laid his hand 
 upon her arm, detaining her a moment. 
 
 " Miriel," he said, " will we keep this to ourselves, you 
 and 1 1 There is no need to spread the knowledge of their 
 fault one step further — it seems too well known already." 
 
 "Yes. Let us bury it in our own hearts," said Miriel, 
 and under her downcast eyelids she looked at the ground 
 through a mist of tears. " Let us be more than ever tender 
 and forgiving to the two sad ones at home. Poor Nanti 
 Gwen ! I have never loved her so much as Nanti Matti, 
 but now pity will make me love her more." 
 
 The tears that had gathered in her eyes prevented her 
 seeing the paleness of lago's face, and the deep anxiety in 
 his eyes, as he asked her, " Will this make a difference 
 to us? Must the shadow of their sin fall upon us and 
 come between us ? Answer quick ! Phil and Betta are 
 coming." 
 
 " Come between us ? " said the girl, startled. " No, no, I 
 cannot see that at all ; it has caused enough sorrow in the 
 past, let us try to bring light out of it." 
 
 There was no time for more talk before they were joined 
 by the others, and with them Miriel once more followed the 
 crowd into the tent, though through all the laughter and 
 music she seemed to hear Peggi Doll's harsh laugh and cruel 
 taunts. 
 
 When they entered the large audience was convulsed with 
 laughter, at a sight of which they seemed to have missed the 
 pathetic pitifulness, and to see only the ludicrous side of the 
 performance. Three old women, over seventy years of age, 
 were in competition for the small prize of five shillings, the 
 test being an old song of former days, familiar to them all 
 when they were in the hey-day of life and youth. 
 
 The first competitor, when she had been assisted to reach 
 the platform, seemed thoroughly unnerved by her strange 
 surroundings and more ready to shed tears than to sing ; her
 
 xrbe patb b^ tbe IRiver 17^ 
 
 quavering voice was scarcely heard beyond the front row of 
 seats as she sang the old-fashioned melody. 
 
 " Louder, louder ! " cried tlie crowd, but the weak voice 
 trembled still more, and, raising her hands in a deprecating 
 manner, she turned away and abandoned the attempt with 
 a tearful smile. 
 
 There were scores of warm hearts vhose sympathy went 
 out to the frail figure as she left the platform, but the great 
 body of the audience laughed and shouted until the second 
 competitor was summoned by the conductor. 
 
 " Number 2 — Nancy Jones ! " and a straight, tall 
 woman appeared, who, though older than the first, re- 
 quired no assistance in taking her place. Her wrinkled 
 face was surmounted by the tall, black, peasant hat, and 
 her eyes were adorned with a large pair of brass-rimmed 
 spectacles. In her hand she carried the stocking which 
 she was knitting, seeming in no way abashed by the large 
 audience. She had witnessed the discomfiture of the first 
 competitor, and had gained confidence in her own powers ; 
 so, with a loud voice, she sang the old air, " When Cuckoos 
 Sing." 
 
 Even in her youth she must have had an unmusical 
 voice, and now the hard, metallic ring of it aroused only 
 amusement in the crowd, and even Miriel, who had looked 
 round indignantly at the laughter which had greeted the 
 attempts of the first competitor, was unable to keep her 
 countenance as, in piercing tones from which every trace 
 of melody had departed, the old woman sang her song 
 defiantly, with many elaborate turns and impromptu grace 
 notes. She brought her performance to a close in a storm 
 of laughter and cheering, and left the platform with a 
 pleased smile of self- congratulation. 
 
 " Number 3 — Anne Humphreys ! " called the conductor, 
 and a man appeared, bearing with him a small spinning- 
 wheel, which he placed on the front of the platform. The 
 people were evidently in a merry mood, for they cheered
 
 172 ®n tbe mims of tbe M!n^ 
 
 and shouted at him, " Wei din, Anne Humphreys ! Give 
 us a tune, 'merch i ! " until he was glad enough to retire 
 laughing to the background, while above the steps appeared 
 a quaint and pathetic picture of aged womanhood, who 
 seemed to walk straight into the hearts of the audience. 
 The tumult abated almost to silence as the old woman 
 seated herself before her spinning-wheel, the conductor 
 explaining that " Number 3 " had expressly desired the 
 accompaniment of her wheel, as without it she dared not 
 face so large a concourse of people, and her request was 
 granted with a storm of cheering which had in it no tinge 
 of ridicule. 
 
 When silence had been restored the whirr of the wheel 
 was audible, and with it a clear, though weak, voice floated 
 over the assembly, soft as a bird's at sunset, true and 
 musical though tremulous with age : — 
 
 " When cuckoos sang till the woodlands rang 
 And the sun was sinking low, 
 Adown the vale with my milking-pail 
 A-singing I did go. 
 
 Och-i ! och-i ! and well a day, 
 
 I am no longer blithe and gay ; 
 
 'Tis passed away, that month of May, 
 
 Och-i! och-i ! och-i!" 
 
 The weak, trembling tones reached the innermost feel- 
 ings of that mixed throng. To so many there that quaint 
 figure, black-hooded and scarlet-mantled, recalled the 
 memory of some dead mother who had made their child- 
 hood beautiful — of some tender, spoiling "Granny" whose 
 place had never been filled by any other tie. The maid- 
 servant home from her service in London, the shopman 
 who had timed his holiday so as to take in the Eisteddfod, 
 the raw ploughboy, the Glamorgan collier — to each and all 
 came some tender reminiscence of long ago, some memory 
 of a dear, wrinkled face whose lineaments were beautified 
 by the veil of time and love. The old-time melody, too,
 
 Uhc ipatb b^ tbe IRiver 173 
 
 with its quaint words, was familiar to many, reaching back 
 to the days of their childhood, so that Anne Humphreys 
 had scarcely risen from her wheel and made her bob 
 curtsey before she was greeted with the enthusiastic 
 approval of an excitable, warm-hearted people. 
 
 Shouts and cries, and even tears, swept through the 
 tent, and there was a rush of some of the most excitable 
 towards the platform, where they clasped the old woman's 
 hands, patted her on the shoulders, and, had not the con- 
 ductor recalled them to reason, would have carried her 
 round the pavilion ; all their expressions of approval being 
 received by Anne Humphreys with a simple smile of pleased 
 surprise. She was led away by two or three of the calmer 
 spirits amongst the crowd, and the next competition being 
 that of the brass bands, the manifestations of sentiment 
 were soon forgotten in the deafening sounds which shook 
 the canvas walls. 
 
 At Hendyrafon, Doctor Dan was smoking the pipe of 
 peace and quietness alone. He had found fewer patients 
 than he expected awaiting him, and had decided to spend 
 the afternoon with his books and his thoughts. The latter 
 he seemed to find fully satisfying and pleasant, for he 
 smiled as he rose at last and moved the little spider-legged 
 table to a position from which the river would be visible. 
 
 " She will like to see it while she has her tea," he said, 
 and looking round the room he added aloud (for there was 
 no one to overhear), " What a difference she makes in this 
 old room ! God bless her little gold-crowned head ! " and 
 he was conscious of a strange feeling of warmth and ex- 
 hilaration as he turned to leave the house to wander alone 
 the path by the river, which connected his fields and 
 meadows with the high road running into the town. 
 
 As usual, the sound of the on-flowing waters laid its 
 soothing spell upon him, and wooed his thoughts into a 
 pleasant reverie. How often had he roamed along the 
 margin of his beloved river, weaving, with its trickle and
 
 174 ®n tbe Mings ot tbe MinD 
 
 rush, the weft and woof of many thoughts? sometimes 
 commonplace worldly calculations, sometimes memories 
 of the past or problems of the present, sometimes the 
 deep communings of the mind, too intimate and solemn 
 for outward expression; but never had its musical flow 
 seemed to bear into his heart so many dreams of beauty 
 and happiness as to-day. Up and down, at the brink of 
 the whispering water he paced, sometimes standing still to 
 watch the speckled trout that darted under the weedy 
 banks, sometimes peering into the nests, now empty and 
 deserted, whose building he had watched in the spring- 
 time. Stooping to gather a bunch of white clover, he 
 placed it in his buttonhole, with a smile of amusement at 
 the romantic sentiment of the action, at last summing up 
 his self-conimunings in a few words, which he spoke aloud — 
 "Dan Griffiths, thou art a fool — and at forty!" and he 
 laughed with a scorn which was largely tempered with 
 hope and confidence. Suddenly he caught sight of a 
 figure whose steps brought him rapidly along the river- 
 side path. 
 
 "Somebody coming to the stables, or to see Deio," 
 thought Doctor Dan, as he watched the approaching 
 figure, who seemed, like himself, to find a charm in the 
 gliding stream, for he, too, often stopped to watch its 
 rippling flow. Something in his appearance seemed 
 familiar to the doctor, and, as he drew nearer, he re- 
 cognised lago, who, upon being left alone by Miriel at 
 the entrance of the Eisteddfod tent, had turned away 
 with a warm glow in his heart, kindled by her last 
 words. 
 
 Full of hope and happiness, which not even the sting of 
 Peggi Doll's words could poison, he turned into a gateway 
 which appeared to lead down to the river, and so back to 
 the town. 
 
 " Hallo ! Our bard ! Are you already tired of your 
 popularity, then 1 " said Doctor Dan, as he approached.
 
 Zbc ipatb bp tbe Mvcv 175 
 
 "I am tired of the noise, sir." 
 
 "And come down to seek peace from the song of the 
 Lidan? Well, you won't be disappointed. The river is 
 an old and unchanging friend wlio never fails to speak 
 peace and rest to me, whatever." 
 
 " 'Tis that in Nature that makes her such a precious 
 friend, I think, sir," said lago. " She is ready with her 
 cool hand to soothe us at all times ! But, is this path 
 public 1 " 
 
 " Oh, yes. These are my meadows, and the path leads 
 through my stableyard into the town, but everybody uses 
 it. A funeral passed this way once, I believe, so I could 
 not debar the public from using it, even if I wished, which 
 I do not." 
 
 " Well ! Now that I have met you, I may tell you that 
 I was intending to ask a few moments of your time this 
 afternoon," said lago. " Perhaps I might explain to you 
 now what I wanted to say." 
 
 " Yes. Why not 1 Let us sit on this shelving bank, the 
 river will not disturb us." 
 
 Then a silence fell upon them both, the younger man 
 hesitating to lay bare before a stranger the feelings which 
 had hitherto been so carefully hidden, Doctor Dan fighting 
 with a chilling presentiment of evil which had suddenly 
 come between him and the light which had gilded his 
 thoughts a few minutes earlier. 
 
 At last he broke the silence by a question which seemed 
 to him natural, but the subject of which was far from 
 lago's thoughts. 
 
 " How will you get your Chair home ? You will send for 
 it to-morrow, I suppose. That will be an heirloom to be 
 proud of ! " 
 
 "Yes," said lago, absently. 
 
 "But you have something else to say, I see," and the 
 doctor looked inquiringly at the young man, who picked 
 unconsciously at the white clover upon which he sat.
 
 t76 ®n tbe Minas ot tbe Min& 
 
 " Yes. 'Tis about Miriel Lloyd. You are her guardian, 
 I understand." 
 
 " Not at all," said the doctor, sitting up. He had been 
 lying on the grass and leaning on his elbow. " I am not 
 her guardian, by any means ; I promised her aunt on 
 her death-bed to look after the girl, and I have done so 
 hitherto as far as possible, but I have no legal control over 
 her." 
 
 "No, no, I quite understand that," said lago; "but 
 I think your wishes would have great weight with her. I 
 think she would do anything to please you." 
 
 "Indeed !" said the doctor, with a little sarcasm in his 
 voice, "and what do you want her to do?" 
 
 He could not shake off an underlying consciousness of 
 the strong tyranny of an unrelenting fate which was closing 
 him in. From the first moment of lago's appearance upon 
 the idyllic scene of the brown Lidan's graceful curves 
 through the green meadows, he seemed to have divined the 
 object of his visit. The scent of the white clover seemed 
 suddenly to permeate the air, and it took all the strong 
 man's force of will to hide from the younger man the pain 
 which his words aroused. 
 
 "Well, sir, in plain words, I love her, I feel that life 
 without Miriel Lloyd will not be worth having, and — " 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the doctor, impatiently, "I know all 
 the rest. You need not trouble to tell me." 
 
 " Well, then," said lago, " you will know that I want 
 her to be my wife, and I want your consent to our 
 marriage." 
 
 " My consent ! I have told you I have no right to inter- 
 fere with her actions." 
 
 lago felt a little hurt at the doctor's manner. 
 
 "At least," he said, " I hope you have nothing against 
 me. Indeed, I was hoping you would speak a kind word 
 for me. I know I am not worthy of Miriel — " 
 
 " I know notliing against you," said Doctor Dan. " But
 
 Zhc ipatb bs tbe IRiver 177 
 
 the chief point is, Have you asked her 1 Does Miriel love 
 you?" 
 
 lago was too absorbed in his own anxieties to observe 
 the doctor's hard, unmodulated tones, his white face and 
 knitted brow. 
 
 "I have asked her, and I think she is not averse to me. 
 A word from you would help my cause, I'm sure — that is, if 
 you have nothing against me." 
 
 It was in a very hard, though steady, voice that Doctor 
 Dan answered, — 
 
 "I have said before I know nothing against you, and as 
 far as I am concerned, if Miriel loves you she has my full 
 consent to marry you, if I had any voice in the matter that 
 is, which I have not. One stipulation only I must make ; 
 that is, that she be fully informed of the history of her 
 aunt's connection with your father. She should not marry 
 you in ignorance of those events." 
 
 "She is aware of them," said lago, a deep red flush 
 suffusing his face. 
 
 " She is aware of them ? And who has dared to sully 
 her pure mind with such a story ? I had been so careful to 
 hide it from her." 
 
 "This morning," said lago, "in the market-place both 
 she and I were told the bare facts. I wish I could make 
 plain to you, sir, how bitter to me is the shame of it, but I 
 have asked Miriel if that terrible past must make a 
 difference to us — must come between us and throw its 
 shadow over our lives." 
 
 " And her answer 1 " 
 
 " Her answer was (and God bless her for it !) — * I do not 
 see it, lago. It has brought enough sorrow in the past, 
 let us try to bring light out of it ! ' " 
 
 "Then there is no more to be said. You are a lucky 
 man, indeed ! A Bardic Chair and a wife in one day ! " 
 
 "A wife ! Dir anw'l ! I haven't won her yet. I would 
 not have you think I make too sure of it. No, no, I have 
 
 M
 
 178 ®n tbe mims of tbe Min& 
 
 not had her final answer yet. I am waiting for your kind 
 help. I have a feeling that a word from you in my favour 
 will go a long way." 
 
 " Well, I will speak to her this evening," said the doctor, 
 " and find out what her feelings are in the matter, and if I 
 find she loves you, you may depend upon it I will say 
 no word against her choice. Further than that I cannot 
 promise : I will do nothing to force her inclinations, but I 
 will tell her that I have never heard anything but good of 
 you, and that if she decides to marry you I have nothing to 
 say against her decision." 
 
 He rose to his feet as if to end the conversation ; lago 
 rose too, though he was not satisfied with the doctor's 
 promise. Perhaps the latter's manner had sometliing to do 
 with that feeling, for certainly he could not expect high 
 praise from a stranger. 
 
 "This is your shortest way back to the Eisteddfod," 
 said Doctor Dan. " You are a farmer and I would like to 
 show you my cows, I am proud of my small farm." 
 
 lago turned to accompany him not unwillingly, for with 
 a lover's persistence he hoped to gain the doctor's warmer 
 approval, and with this object opened up the subject 
 again. 
 
 " I think I could satisfy you as to my worldly prospects, 
 sir. 
 
 " Oh ! " said the doctor, interrupting him, " that is not 
 necessary. I have told you it is nothing to me. Say no 
 more on the matter. You can safely trust your cause to 
 my honour ; supposing always that I find the girl inclined 
 towards you." 
 
 " I know I can, air." 
 
 " Here are my cows. The dun gives us ten pounds of 
 butter every week, sometimes twelve." 
 
 " Splendid creatures they are too ! " said lago, with the 
 enthusiasm of a farmer, " and what grass ! Ah, if we had 
 these fields at Hafod ! but 'tis a 'bryn,' and the soil is
 
 xrbe patb bn tbe Mvcv 179 
 
 poorer on the hillsides," aud thus conversing on a topic of 
 mutual interest, they reached the stableyard and entered 
 Hendyrafon by the back door. A crooked passage led to 
 the front door, and, as they reached the bend, they saw 
 standing there the subject of their previous conversation. 
 Phil and Betta had accompanied her to the arched doorway, 
 leaving her there full of shy embarrassment. 
 
 "lago!" she cried, with a sudden relief. "Oh! and 
 Doctor Dan ! Well, indeed ! I am come to tea as you 
 asked me, but I am feeling that I ought not to come on 
 Buch a busy day." 
 
 " We are not busy here, Miriel, and I was expecting 
 you. And you, lago," he said, turning to the young man, 
 " will you change your mind and stay too 1 " 
 
 But lago declined, a little stiffly, Miriel thought. 
 
 He could not feel at his ease in the doctor's presence, he 
 knew not why, and was glad enough to follow Phil and 
 Betta up the street. 
 
 " We will fetch you early, Miriel," he said ; " the day is 
 changing, I would not wonder if we had rain." 
 
 Doctor Dan had opened the door of the old parlour. " I 
 am so sorry you had to stand at the door," he said. " I meant 
 to have gone up the street and brought you back with me, 
 but I met your friend lago and we stayed a while in the 
 meadows to look at the cows." 
 
 Miriel was looking round the room with a happy smile. 
 
 "'Tis just the same ! " she said. "Indeed, there's glad I 
 am, and the river running on just the same ! Oh, there's 
 the sun shining on it too, and by-and-by it will be red and 
 gold ! " 
 
 " Red and gold ! " thought Doctor Dan — yes, that was 
 what it used to be, but to him this evening the whole 
 landscape appeared leaden grey. 
 
 Miriel was standing at the broad casement, looking out 
 at the river and the dark trees, into the shadow of which 
 it flowed. A little chill had fallen upon her feelings too,
 
 i8o ®n tbe Minos ot tbe MtnD 
 
 as she turned to look at her host. He was taking the 
 white clover from his buttonhole, for it had drooped its 
 head and wilted a little. Finding a glass he placed the 
 pale flower in it. 
 
 " Will it grow fresh again 1 " asked Miriel, " or is it too 
 dead?" 
 
 "Too dead, I'm afraid," he said, with a smile in which 
 surely a shadow lurked. 
 
 Miriel noticed the shadow, although there was nothing 
 lacking in the warmth of his welcome. 
 
 Betti came in full of hospitable greetings. 
 
 " Well, 'merch fach i ! there's glad we are to see you. 
 You must talk to him and make him laugh, because, in my 
 deed, between the sick people and the 'Steddfod he is nearly 
 killed with work. Now, you sit here and make the tea ; " 
 and once more presiding at the little spider-legged table, 
 Miriel tried to feel as happy as when she had last sat 
 there. 
 
 "Will I take off my hat?" she said, when she had 
 handed her host his first cup of tea, and without waiting 
 for an answer she did so. 
 
 " Well, of course, Miriel ; I am an old boor not to have 
 thought of it," and he took it carefully, almost tenderly, 
 from her hand. 
 
 "It is a pretty hat too. Who teaches you to dress so 
 tastefully ? " he said. 
 
 "I don't know, indeed. 'Tis all in dark blue I am, 
 except my white scarf — 'tis safe to be plain, then no one is 
 looking at me." 
 
 "And how is Gwen?" 
 
 " Oh, better every day," said Miriel, while Betti brought 
 in relays of hot cakes. 
 
 " Betti fach ! Will I try those again? You are making 
 me feel as if I was a child once more." 
 
 " There's a black cloud just coming in sight from behind 
 the house," she said when the meal had proceeded a little
 
 trbe patb bp tbe IRivcr iSi 
 
 further. " See how the leaves are shivering on that tree, 
 they don't Hke the dark clouds any more than I do." 
 
 "No. Dark clouds don't seem to belong to you; this 
 one will fall upon Hendyrafon, perhaps, but you, I hope, 
 will escape it, Miriel." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose," she answered, her gaiety a little 
 dashed by his seriousness. Suddenly she remembered 
 what for the moment had escaped her memory, the tale 
 of disgrace which Peggi Doll had made known to her, and 
 at once a wave of pity altered the tenor of her feelings, 
 and she wondered how she could have forgotten it for a 
 moment ! 
 
 His lonely life, shattered and spoiled by one of her own 
 blood ! How she longed to lead it into the sunshine again, 
 to bring joy and laughter into the face whose every change 
 of expression told keenly upon her. 
 
 Doctor Dan, quite unconscious of the turn her thoughts 
 had taken, seemed anxious to make the meal a pleasant one ; 
 he chatted and joked, but with an underlying soberness 
 which he tried in vain to cast oflF, while Miriel felt 
 as the moments slipped by, as if the clouds that 
 were gathering above the old house were reaching even 
 that pleasant tea-table. Trying to make a diversion, she 
 pointed to the glass in which he had placed his withered 
 flowers. 
 
 " Look ! See ! " she said. " The clover is raising its 
 head. Will you put it in your coat again 1" 
 
 "No," he said. "Leave it in the glass. I can at all 
 events look at it ; " and looking at the fair face opposite 
 him, he thought once more, as he had often thought before, 
 how much its tints resembled those of the delicate flower 
 which he had gathered. 
 
 When at last the tea was over, and Betti had in vain 
 pressed more delicacies upon the guest, Doctor Dan 
 said, — 
 
 "And now we must have a serious talk, Miriel,"
 
 1 82 ®n tbe TRUtn^s of tbe Ximin& 
 
 " About what, then? " said the girl, with a curious sinking 
 of the heart. 
 
 The sky had become overcast, with purple silver-edged 
 clouds, the river had lost its sheen, the trees at the water's 
 edge bent down as if to whisper to the river that a storm 
 was coming, the wind sighed ominously in the chimney, 
 and Miriel noted it all while she waited nervously. 
 
 " Well, you know I met lago in the meadows," said 
 Doctor Dan at last. " We stayed there some time, and I 
 daresay you can guess tbe subject of our conversation." 
 
 At the mention of lago's name a blush had overspread 
 Miriel's face, for a suspicion had darted into her mind that 
 upon one point only could he have sought counsel from 
 Doctor Dan. 
 
 The latter noticed the warm glow and drew his own 
 conclusions, and a faint hope that had hitherto refused to 
 be utterly stifled fluttered its wings and flew away. 
 
 "I — I — oh! indeed, I don't know what he said," 
 stammered Miriel. 
 
 " He was under the impression that he ought to get my 
 permission to ask you to marry him." 
 
 Miriel, fingering her white scarf nervously, cast her eyes 
 down and waited. 
 
 "I told him I had no control over your actions further 
 than that of a friend. He asked me to press his suit for 
 him, Miriel, but that I would not promise. I told him, 
 what I say to you now, that if I found you were inclined 
 towards him, you would have my full approval — permission, 
 if you like to call it so. So tell me plainly, do you love this 
 young bard 1 and do wish to marry him 1 " 
 
 The hot blood that had crimsoned Miriel's face had fled, 
 leaving her white as her own white scarf. 
 
 She made two or three attempts to speak. 
 
 "I have nothing to say against him, Miriel. I think 
 you have chosen wisely. Tell me, 'merch i, what are your 
 feelings in the matter 1 "
 
 tlbe patb bp tbe IRivec 183 
 
 "I don't want to marry him," said the girl, gradually 
 recovering her self-possession. " He is very kind and very 
 good, but I don't want to marry him. How can I leave 
 Nanti Gwen ? " she asked, seeking about for some excuse for 
 her reluctance. 
 
 "Miriel, I hope it is not that handsome brother who 
 stands in the way. In my deed, I would not be willing 
 for that!" 
 
 " Phil ! " said Miriel. Her face had regained its colour, 
 and her eyes had a spark of anger in them. " Oh, what 
 folly ! to talk to me about Phil when 'tis Betta he loves ! 
 Oh, 'tis cruel ! cruel ! " and burying her face in her hands, 
 he saw the tears drop through her fingers, while between 
 her sobs came choking words — " Why sha'n't I be quiet at 
 home ? Oh, I don't want to marry anybody ! I am not 
 doing anybody any harm, only wanting to be quiet at 
 home all my life with Nanti Gwen. I have been a dull, 
 blind girl, and I see now how it is. I am a burden to you 
 and a trouble ! Let me go home, I will never come here 
 again." 
 
 The foolish Welsh pride was burning at her heart, for 
 she believed the truth of what she was saying, while he, the 
 solitary grave man, so little used to the ways of womankind, 
 thought he had discovered the key to the whole matter, in 
 Miriel's preference for Phil. That that was her feeling 
 towards him was evident to his prejudiced eyes ; what else 
 meant the tears, the changing colour and the words, 
 '"Tis Betta he loves?" 
 
 " Poor child ! " he thought, " she is angry at my dis- 
 approval of Phil, but better she should be angry now than 
 sorrowful for life, as I know she would with that wild, 
 roving fellow." It must be supposed, therefore, that 
 Doctor Dan had heard more particulars of Philip 
 Vaughan's ways than this story has revealed. 
 
 " That is nonsense, Miriel," he said. " Can you not 
 trust me ? If you had chosen lago Vaughan I would have
 
 i84 ®n tbe Mtnas of tbe MinD 
 
 approved of your choice ; but Philip ! I warn you against 
 him. It would grieve me, Miriel ; but of course you are 
 not bound to consult my wishes." 
 
 This concession seemed in no wise to have banished 
 Miriel's resentment, for she dried her tears, and, drawing 
 herself up, said, " I am more sorry than I can say, that 
 lago has troubled you about such nonsense, and all I have 
 got to say is, I don't want to marry him nor anyone, only 
 to be let alone, to live quietly at Doloer. Even the mouse 
 is allowed to stop in her own hole if she likes ! and, oh ! " 
 she added, with a little toss of her head, "there's sorry I 
 am that I came here to-day ! but good-bye, Doctor Dan, I 
 will not come again," and she put on her hat hastily, and 
 snatched up her scarf, which was lying on the table. 
 
 " Child ! " he said, " or woman ! whichever you are, is 
 it nothing to you that you are wounding me sorely 1 " 
 
 Again her tears began to flow. " And is it nothing to 
 you, then, that you are so cruel to me ? " she said. 
 
 "Cruel, Miriel? I am only advising you to be wise. 
 From lago's words I had gathered that you loved him, 
 and I would not have opposed your marrying him ; but my 
 promise to your aunt compels me to warn you against his 
 brother." 
 
 At this moment Betti came in and stood looking on in 
 astonishment. 
 
 "What is the matter with the lo's fach ? " she asked, 
 looking inquiringly at her master. 
 
 "Only the usual disturbance of young life, Betti ! Two 
 lovers, and she chooses the wrong one." 
 
 At this distinct arraignment, Miriel's childish tears and 
 temper vanished, and all her womanhood rose up in arms 
 against the false accusation. 
 
 " 'Tis a mistake," she said quietly. " I am telling the 
 truth, that I don't want to marry anyone, and I will not. 
 There's the car stopping for me." 
 
 "You are angry with me," said Doctor Dan, rising,
 
 trbe patb bp tbe IRiver 185 
 
 " and yet every word I have spoken has wounded me more 
 than it has you. Once more, and for the last time, I feel 
 I must advise you, 'merch i. If you marry either of those 
 two brothers, marry lago." 
 
 Miriel answered not a word, but, with a heightened 
 colour and a throb of resentment at her heart, turned to 
 leave the room. 
 
 "We have come early," said lago, as, followed by 
 Doctor Dan and the bewildered Betti, she reached the 
 front door. "I am afraid there is a storm brewing." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I am quite ready," said Miriel, while Phil 
 jumped off his seat and lifted her into the car beside 
 lago. 
 
 " Good-bye, Miriel," said Doctor Dan, holding out his 
 hand. " Let us part friends ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed, I forgot," she answered. " Good-bye, 
 and thank you for all your kindness. Good-bye, Betti, and 
 thank you too," and they drove away over the bridge.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 gwen's memories 
 
 Doctor Dan had not been far wrong when he credited 
 Miriel with " a will of her own," perhaps he might have 
 gone farther, and added, a temper of her own, for, sunny 
 and bright as was her nature, there was the underlying 
 current of impetuous passions, which generations of ances- 
 tors had transmitted to her — the hasty anger, the haughty 
 pride — and as she drove home silently beside lago (Phil and 
 Betta chatting and laughing behind), all these strong feel- 
 ings were coursing through her heart. The words " Choose 
 lago " were ringing in her ears, and in them she imagined 
 a host of taunts and insults which had no existence, except 
 in her own heated imagination. The dark clouds that had 
 taken the sheen from the river were spreading further 
 towards the west, which still retained a pale yellow light — 
 not a breeze was stirring, and a solemn silence brooded 
 over the darkening landscape. lago rallied her on her 
 silence, but Miriel attributed it all to the heaviness of the 
 atmosphere, and the young man sitting so close to her 
 little guessed that to his companion, generally so gay and 
 light-hearted, the world that had seemed so golden bright 
 when they had driven under the drooping sycamores in the 
 morning, wore now a mantle of such leaden grey as no out- 
 ward storm could have spread over it. 
 
 They had reached the top of the high bryns now, but 
 seemed no nearer the wind. 
 
 1 86
 
 6wcn'3 /IDemories 187 
 
 " Pouff ! " said Phil, " I wish the storm would come ; 
 we might hope for a breath of air then." 
 
 •' Let us get home first ! " said Miriel. 
 
 Great heavy drops of rain began to fall, and in the 
 distance the thunder rumbled ominously. 
 
 lago had become silent too, attending only to Nero, who 
 seemed nervously anxious to get to the end of his journey. 
 When he reached the Hafod clos he tossed his head and 
 stamped, impatient to rid himself of his trappings. 
 
 Phil insisted upon running down the slope with Miriel, 
 while lago led Nero into the stable, and Betta pouted a 
 little. 
 
 " Come I " he said, endeavouring in true country fashion 
 to insinuate his arm round Miriel's waist, " the little bird 
 that's afraid of the storm must be sheltered." 
 
 " Nonsense, Phil ! " she said, flinging his arm away. " I 
 can run much quicker by myself. There's a light in the 
 porch," 
 
 " Dir anw'l ! Who would think you had such a fiery 
 little temper 1 but there ! Queen Victoria is running 
 home to her palace again." A flash of lightning lit up 
 the sky, and Miriel ran into the shelter of the porch. 
 *' Go, go, Phil," she said. " Betta will be frightened." 
 
 " Frightened ! " scoffed Phil. " No, no, it takes more 
 than a thunderstorm to frighten Betta; but you've had 
 enough of me, I see, so fforwel ! I'm going. 'Twas a jolly 
 day we had, whatever ! " and he hurried away under the 
 fast-increasing drops, while Miriel drew near the cosy 
 hearth, as a bird escapes from the storm to its nest. 
 
 " Oh, Nanti Gwen fach, there's glad I am to be home. 
 It was beautiful at the Eisteddfod, and there are many 
 grand things in the world to see, no doubt, but it is home 
 suits Miriel Lloyd the best." 
 
 " Did you enjoy yourself, de-an ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel, with a weight like a stone in her 
 heart.
 
 1 88 ®n tbe mUxQS ot tbc Wiinb 
 
 " I will tell you all about it when I have put my best 
 things in the coffer. Mali fach, you ought to be there, 
 'twas wonderful ! Ask Stivin to tell you about the three 
 old women ! " and she passed into the penisha with a gay 
 laugh, which for the first time in her life she found un- 
 natural to her lips. She paused a moment at the doorway 
 to add — "The music was beautiful as could be, and the 
 grandest thing of all : lago has won the prize for his Ode, 
 and the Bardic Chair is his, and they chaired him and 
 crowned him with a sword." 
 
 "Caton pawb ! " said Mali. "Wasn't he frightened? 
 There's glad Silvan Yaughan will be," and while she spoke 
 she went through a series of pantomimic gestures which 
 bewildered Miriel. Standing carefully in the background, 
 where Gwen could not see her, she pointed to the bedroom, 
 she winked, and held up her closed fist as if to enjoin 
 silence, and at last, going herself into the bedroom, she 
 crooked her finger two or three times at Miriel, who, 
 though perplexed, took that sign to mean, " Follow 
 me ! " In the bedroom she found Mali gesticulating 
 mysteriously. 
 
 " Sh — sh — sh ! " she whispered, closing the door cautiously. 
 "There's something odd upon ?ier to-day, 'morch i. There's 
 glad I am that you are come back." 
 
 " Something odd 1 " exclaimed Miriel. " Oh, Mali, what 
 is it?" 
 
 "Well, 'tis like this now; all day she has been very 
 silent, sitting quiet there in her chair and looking in the 
 fire." 
 
 "'Twas the storm coming on and heavy in the air." 
 
 "No, no, it was not the storm. In the afternoon T said, 
 ' Be bound Vaughan yr Hafod will be down directly, be- 
 cause he knows we are alone to-day, and he will be lone- 
 some himself too.' She didn't answer, but by-and-by she 
 said, ' I am tired, Mali, I will go to my bed and rest a bit,' 
 and so she did, till just before you came home."
 
 <5 wen's /iDemories 189 
 
 " Well," said Miriel, " she did well. 'Twas the storm, as 
 I told you." 
 
 " Wait a bit," said Mali. " When she was lying on her 
 bed she looked so strange at me, and I'll t^ke my oath 
 there were tears in her eyes, and ' Mali,' says she, catching 
 hold on my arm, ' where is Matti 1 ' Oh, Diwss anwl ! 
 I felt the blood running cold from my head to my heart, 
 and I didn't answer her for a minute till she asked again, 
 ' Mali, where is Matti 1 ' Well, I searched about in my 
 mind for a story, but I was as dull as Stivin and I 
 couldn't find anything but the truth to tell her. 'She's 
 dead, 'merch i, and gone to heaven,' I said, and at that she 
 didn't answer, but turned her head on the pillow, and 
 I thought she was asleep, but when I went in to peep at 
 her there were tears on her cheek, though she was asleep 
 then fast enough, and slept till just before you came." 
 
 She was interrupted by a blinding flash of lightning, 
 under which Miriel cowered a little, hiding her face in her 
 hands, but forgetting her own fright in concern for her 
 aunt she ran into the living-room, where Gwen had risen 
 nervously. 
 
 "Here I am," she said cheerfully, "ready to tell you all 
 about the Eisteddfod. Isn't it a grand thing for lago to 
 win the Chair ? and, oh, Nanti Gwen, if you were to hear 
 the people cheering and clapping their hands ! " 
 
 But Gwen paid little heed to her ; a far-away look was 
 in her eyes, not the vacant gaze that had been there for 
 so long, but a look of absorbing thought, and Miriel soon 
 saw that, as Mali had said, " there was something odd upon 
 her." 
 
 She drew out her knitting, taking her accustomed place 
 on the little rush stool in the chimney corner, and tried to 
 entertain Gwen with an account of the day's varied scenes, 
 and to withdi'aw her thoughts from some subject which 
 was evidently holding them enchained. But all in vain, 
 for Gwen's thoughts refused to be recalled from their
 
 19° ®n tbe Minos of tbe Mln& 
 
 wanderings. Miriel at last became silent as herself, and 
 the hours passed on in solemn stillness, broken only by the 
 recurring peals of thunder, the two women sitting there 
 in the dim light of a solitary candle and the flickering of 
 the turf fire, each silently occupied with her own thoughts, 
 for Miriel too had much to revolve in her mind, so full had 
 the day been of events and conflicting feelings. 
 
 The thronged pavilion, the entrancing music, the crowded 
 booths, and then the shrivelled, spiteful woman who had 
 cast the first shadow over hei happy day, and whose bitter 
 words still burnt upon her heart their picture of the past. 
 
 The night wore on, the candle burnt low in the socket, 
 and still Gwen shrank nervously back whenever Miriel 
 ofiered to lead her to the bedroom. Flash after flash darted 
 between them like a two-edged sword, and Miriel, with 
 her inborn fear of a thunderstorm, cowered under every 
 flash. She watched Gwen with ever-increasing uneasiness, 
 Bo strange was the varying expression of her countenance, 
 for the long-pent-up feelings of fifteen years were surging 
 in upon her, and from the chambers of memory the sleeping 
 forms and faces of the dead past were rising into life and 
 crowding in upon her mind, until at last the tears that 
 gathered in her eyes dropped slowly down her cheeks : and, 
 wringing her hands she moaned, " O Lord, pity me ! pity 
 me!" 
 
 Miriel tried, with gentle words and caressing touches, to 
 soothe her, and at last had recourse to the preconcerted 
 signal which brought Mali and Stivin to her aid. A tap 
 on the bedroom wall and the burly man and his sharp- 
 featured wife came blustering in as acutely distinctive as 
 their prototypes of the storm. 
 
 "I was afraid you were gone to bed," said Miriel; 
 "here's Nanti Gwen so frightened." 
 
 " Caton pawb, no ! Gone to bed ! 'tis waiting for you 
 to knock we've been." 
 
 "No need to be frightened at this" said Stivin, con-
 
 Owen's /ffi>emories 191 
 
 temptuously ; " I don't call this a storm, I don't take no 
 notice of it, not I." He spoke as one who, being familiar 
 with the real thing, was not going to be taken in by a poor 
 imitation, 
 
 " Call this a storm ? " he roared. " Why, I remember once 
 when Mali and me were storing the potatoes in the shed, we 
 couldn't hear each other's voices from one side of the heap 
 to the other. No, no, 'merch i, this isn't a storm." 
 
 " 'Tis enough for Nanti Gwen and me," said Miriel. 
 
 " Come, you," said Mali, cheerfully. " There's nothing 
 like a cup of tea to cheer one up, and she hung the kettle 
 on the chimney chain, and clattered the cups and saucers 
 ftS much as possible. 
 
 During the meal she launched Stivin upon many a recital 
 of adventures by sea and land, not hesitating to pull him 
 up sharply when his reminiscences led him too near any 
 past event which might turn Gwen's thoughts to her own 
 troubles ; for well the keen-witted woman saw that the 
 sleeping memory was awakening and that long-dead sorrows 
 were coming to life. 
 
 At midnight the storm abated, the tide turned, the 
 thunder peals grew more and more distant, and Gwen 
 allowed Mali to lead her to her room and help her to her 
 bed, where she soon fell into the deep sleep which so fre- 
 quently visited her pillow. 
 
 In less than an hour the clouds were breaking, and the 
 moon looked down between them upon Doloer lying closed 
 and peaceful in the bend of the slope. 
 
 Left to solitude and peace Miriel lay long awake, allow 
 ing her thoughts to run into the groove from which during 
 the evening she had firmly withheld them, Hendyrafon ! 
 that had been so bright a spot in the restricted circle of 
 her life's experiences ! She would never see it again. Its 
 master, to whom her thoughts had learnt to fly as a refuge 
 from every trouble, she must learn to live without him, for 
 had he not shown that he was tired of her ? In plain words
 
 192 ®n tbe Minos of tbe XClinb 
 
 he had bid her marry lago — " Choose lago " were almost 
 his last words. 
 
 A hot flush o" pride kindled in her cheek. Was she, 
 Miriel Lloyd, to be ordered about like a child ? to be told 
 whom she should, and whom she should not marry 1 and 
 burying her face in her pillow she shed some tears that 
 were the bitterest she had ever shed, for there, alone in the 
 moonlight, she confessed to herself what she had hitherto 
 been scarcely conscious of, that to be in disfavour with 
 Doctor Dan was to lose all that made life worth having. 
 She was already conscious of her wounded pride, but now 
 she realised also that all this sorrow and bitterness was 
 caused by wounded love. She tossed on her pillow in a tur- 
 moil of feelings, sometimes her anger alniost causing her 
 to summarily tear the man she loved from the pedestal 
 upon which her heart had placed him ; at other times she 
 was over-ruled by a stronger sentiment than anger, and 
 again she recalled to mind how happy she had been on her 
 first visit to Hendyrafon ; then came the first cold touch 
 of trouble, when she had felt that Doctor Dan's manner 
 towards lier had changed, in what way she could not ex- 
 plain, but with the mysterious subtle instinct of love she 
 had felt it while the gold of the sunset faded and the grey 
 clouds crept over the sky. Again the words "Choose 
 lago " rang in her ears, the hot blood dyed her cheeks in 
 the darkness, and she nursed her anger as her ancestors 
 had nursed a vengeance. No, she would not choose lago, 
 but would live her own life, and no one should know that 
 she had been a foolish girl, and had given her heart where 
 it was not wanted ; and for a few brief days she continued in 
 this state of mind, attending to all her household duties 
 and meeting lago and Betta with the usual smiling greeting 
 and with more than her usual gaiety. 
 
 Doctor Dan had mistaken her feelings. What then 1 
 He would find out his mistake some day and be sorry for 
 his cruelty, but he must open his eyes of his own accord.
 
 Owen's /Iftemories 193 
 
 for she would never, never, never do or say anything to 
 explain matters to him, and she solaced herself by hugging 
 this determination to her heart, and the days went on, her 
 life falling into the old familiar groove, though with its 
 brightness dulled and its hopes tarnished. Gwen had 
 changed much in her outward manner, as her mind grew 
 clearer and her memory returned. 
 
 The summer days were passing rapidly away, and the 
 autumn was upon them before they had realised that summer 
 was gone. The corn was ripe and the harvest had com- 
 menced on the sunny uplands ; even down at Doloer they 
 knew it, for Mali and Stivin went every day to work in the 
 fields, returning in the evening laden with country fare, 
 barley bread, cheese and butter, to wliich was sometimes 
 added a dip candle apiece, not to speak of a good budget of 
 country gossip. 
 
 At Hafod, too, the harvest called the young people to 
 the cornfields ; not to their own, for they had not arrived 
 at the farm early enough to sow corn, so they carried their 
 strong arms and willing hands to help their neighbours, and 
 were making friends in all directions. 
 
 " Jar i ! " said Morgan Sarnwen, " there's three strapping 
 young people you've got, Voue. A real help they are too, 
 so willing and so handy. A smart fellow that Phil is too 
 — well, indeed, you've got reason to be proud of your 
 children." 
 
 "Oh, yes, they are very well," said Silvan Vaughan, 
 " and 'tis a good thing they can work, for I am gone 
 past it." 
 
 "Well, you can afibrd to be idle," said Morgan, for the 
 rumour had circulated that Vone yr Hafod was a rich 
 man, and this rumour had given him a good standing 
 amongst the farmers of the countryside, and had helped 
 them to condone the sins of his youth. 
 
 But in spite of his money, and the happiness which lago's 
 success and his eldest son's return had brought him, he 
 
 N
 
 194 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 seemed to fail in health every day, he grew thinner and 
 more bent, and lago often followed his uncertain steps with 
 looks of watchful sadness. 
 
 " He will not be with us long, Phil," he had said one day, 
 as their father had turned away, leaving them to their work 
 and the laughter and jokes of the harvest field, 
 
 " Twt, twt ! Don't croak, lad. I see no difierenco in 
 him this many a year." 
 
 " I do, then," said lago, with a little anger at his brother's 
 callousness. But nothing weighed on Phil's spirits. Always 
 brimming over with vitality, he seemed to spurn at all caro 
 or sorrow and to find no place in his nature for a serious 
 thought ; yet, wherever he went, he was liked and flattered, 
 receiving every attention as his due, and meeting every 
 event with a laugh or a joke. 
 
 " Perhaps 'tis the thought of Phil's sailing so soon that 
 makes the old man so sad of late," thought lago, but Mii-iel 
 too had noticed his failing strength. He had turned 
 from the harvest field towards Doloer that afternoon, 
 and she had met him in the porch with a word of kindly 
 greeting. 
 
 " Well, indeed, I'm glad you've come," she said, "because 
 Nanti Gwen is not well these days. Come, then, and cheer 
 her up ; " and leading him to the hearth, she placed his rush 
 chair as usual near Gwen, who was asleep, fatigued with 
 her walk in the garden, where Miriel had coaxed her to 
 look at the bees. 
 
 " You have not been down for two or three days, and I 
 think she has missed you," she said. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan did not answer at once. " Mali said 
 she thought I had better not come," he said at last, and he 
 looked long at the pale face, paler than usual, white even 
 as marble, in the still repose of sleep. 
 
 " What is it, Miriel 1 " he said in a low voice. ♦' Will 
 she go before me after all ? " 
 
 '* Are you seeing her so ill, then 1" said Miriel, alarmed.
 
 ©wen's /iRcmories 195 
 
 " Yes, I am afraid for her," and as he spoke Gwen opened 
 her eyes. 
 
 " Gwen, 'uierch i, are you ill ? " and he took the thin, 
 white hand in his own, smoothing it with a tender touch. 
 
 Gwen made no answer, but fixed her eyes upon his with 
 a long, sorrowful look, and at last turned her head away, 
 her cheek resting on the bright patchwork cushion. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan seated himself silently beside her, an 
 expression of pained anxiety accentuating the lines and 
 hollows of his thin face ; and for some time nothing was 
 heard but the ticking of the clock and the whirring of the 
 pigeons' wings as they flew from roof to chimney, from 
 chimney to roof; Miriel standing by, keenly alive to the 
 new development in the tragedy which bad begun before 
 her birth. 
 
 Silvan had brought with him a bundle of fresh green 
 rushes, which were now lying scattered at Gwen's feet. 
 He picked up two or three, and, beginning to plait them, 
 said in a voice more weak and trembling than usual, " I 
 thought we were going to begin a hat for Doctor Dan to- 
 day." But Gwen was still silent, and the rushes dropited 
 through his listless fingers to the ground. 
 
 " Gwen fach ! speak to us," he said. 
 
 She sighed a little, with an almost imperceptible motion 
 of withdrawing her hand, but further than that made 
 no sign, except that a large tear rolled down her cheek. 
 
 " Would I go, perhaps ? " he said, rising, and he stood a 
 while nervously arranging his rushes on the table. " Per- 
 haps to-morrow you will be better, 'merch i." 
 
 " Yes," faltered Gwen, and searching absently for his 
 stick, he turned away humbly, stumbling a little in the 
 cobbled porch, whither Miriel followed, looking with deep 
 pity after him as he made his way up the slope, his shoulders 
 more bent and his hair looking greyer than ever under his 
 broad-brimmed rush hat. 
 
 Returning to the hearth, she found Gwen still pale and
 
 196 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 silent, the slow tears coursing after each other down her 
 cheeks. Gradually they ceasod, and for the rest of the 
 day she sat quietly thoughtful. The sudden change in her 
 state of mind disturbed and puzzled Miriel, although she 
 nad for some time observed that Gwen had become subject 
 to long fits of abstraction and thoughtfulness, and that her 
 eyes often showed signs of tears. 
 
 She dreaded lest the too suddenly awakened memory, 
 which Doctor Dan had warned her of, was bringing in its 
 train regrets too strong and bitter for the frail being who 
 had so slight a hold on life. 
 
 At last, when Miriel had led her to her room, and drawn 
 the silk coverlet over her, she drew the girl towards her 
 closer, closer until she could whisper in her ear, " Say 
 good-bye to him, Miriel. I don't understand it. God will 
 make it plain. I will never see him again in this world." 
 
 " You will be better to-morrow, Nanti Gwen fach," 
 said Miriel. " Sleep now and you will feel different when 
 the morning sun awakes you ; " and she turned to leave the 
 room, but stopped on the threshold as she heard Gwen'a 
 voice again. 
 
 " Miriel ! Up there ! " and she pointed upwards. 
 
 " Yes, dear, I understand. I will tell him," said Miriel, 
 and almost before she had passed into the livuig-room Gwen 
 was asleep. 
 
 lago, who had been too busy with the harvest to visit 
 Doloer for a few days after the Eisteddfod, came down one 
 day full of animation and talk, for he had won the Chair ! 
 Doctor Dan had not opposed his suit ! and, above all, ISliriel's 
 answer to his question, " Must this come between us 1 " had 
 filled him with buoyant hope. 
 
 Miriel, unconscious of the interpretation which he had 
 put upon her words, tried to be unembarrassed and cheer- 
 ful as usual, though the memory of his interview with 
 Doctor Dan in the meadows would thrust itself into her 
 mind.
 
 6wcn'3 /iDemories 197 
 
 "What did your father say, lago, about your winning 
 the Chair 1 Wasn't he proud of you ? " 
 
 "Well, I don't know !" he answered, his cheeks flushing, 
 " but he was glad, whatever ! Yes, I think he was proud. 
 He sent Shemi in at once next morning with the cart to 
 fetch it. 'Twas a nice day we had, Miriel ! That old 
 witch's bitter words made the only blot upon it." 
 
 " Yes, 'twas a beautiful day," said Miriel. " I will never 
 forget its brightness nor its clouds." 
 
 " Well, to me there were no clouds ; even the storm 
 waited till we came home. It was all sunshine and joy to 
 me after your words." 
 
 " What words ? " said the girl, startled. 
 
 " Well," said lago, looking up nervously from the pattern 
 which he was unconsciously drawing with his finger on the 
 table, " you said the past need not come between us. Oh, 
 Miriel ! don't draw back those words — for — " 
 
 " Stop, lago, stop ! Indeed, you have made a mistake ; 
 we are friends, we have been friends ever since you have 
 been here, and I was hoping we would be friends for ever, 
 but I did not mean anything else." 
 
 " But, Miriel ! " said lago, seizing her hand and holding 
 it a moment by force, " surely, surely, you understood 
 what I meant. You will let me plead with you ; listen to 
 me, lass." 
 
 " Yes, I will listen to anything you have to say, but it 
 will only be giving me the pain of answering the same." 
 
 "Can you give me no hope? I spoke to Doctor Dan 
 about it, and he was quite willing. What have you against 
 me, Miriel ? It seems impossible that such deep, strong 
 love as mine must go unsatisfied. Come ! trust yourself to 
 me, and you shall never know a care or a trouble that I 
 can ward ofi" you, even with my life." 
 
 " No, indeed, no," said Miriel. " Always I will be your 
 friend, lago, but not anything more. God has not made 
 my heart for love, I suppose, or why would I be like this ?
 
 198 ®n tbe Minos Qt tbe TTClinD 
 
 I want only to live on quietly at Doloer ; 'tis here alone 
 I am at peace. I "will never marry ! Leave me alone, 
 lago bach, don't plague me ; for, indeed, lad, as long as the 
 waves are falling, and as long as the stars are shining, I 
 can never give you another answer." 
 
 lago's breath went fast and fluttering, he had turned 
 very pale and had grasped the back of a chair as if 
 to steady himself, but his voice was quite firm as he 
 answered; — 
 
 " I cannot give up hope, Miriel. You said once that in 
 ten years you might think of marrying. I have not for- 
 gotten your words, though you gave me no hope; I will 
 wait ten years, nay, all my life, but so help me, God ! I will 
 never plague you. No, lago Vaughan was not born to be 
 a trouble to Miriel Lloyd ! " 
 
 He walked with unconscious steps towards the doorway, 
 forgetting his head was uncovered. Miriel ran after him, 
 carrying his hat, and he took it absently, turning it 
 round two or three times before he placed it on his head. 
 "Good-bye, Miriel," he said, forgetting to thank her, "per- 
 haps I will not be down this evening, but to-morrow I will 
 come down just the same." 
 
 " lago ! " she said, laying both hands upon his arm, " do 
 you know — do you understand that my heart is aching 
 too 1 " 
 
 "Yes; I think I do. There's fresh the grass smells 
 after the rain ! " he added in a totally different tone of 
 voice. 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel, turning back and slowly passing 
 through the porch, where the wallflowers were gay with 
 their tufts of autumn bloom. 
 
 V
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 "the mills of god" 
 
 In the evening, when the sun h3,d set and the house was 
 very quiet, Miriel went out to roam alone over the shore, 
 knowing that Gwen would sleep till morning undisturbed. 
 Leaving the door wide open as usual, she sought the edge 
 of the tide, where she had always found peace and happi- 
 ness in the time that seemed so far away, though, in reality, 
 only a few months had passed since hers had been the only 
 young life upon that lonely shore. " 'Tis the autumn 
 weather, perhaps," she thought, as she stood looking over 
 the sea to the deep blue, starlit sky, " that is making Nanti 
 Gwen so weak, and Phil going away so soon is weigliing on 
 Vaughan yr Hafod ; we will all be better when the spring- 
 time comes again and the daffodils are pushing their green 
 heads through the earth. The Sea Gidl will come in 
 again then, with all her streamers flying ; there's a happy 
 time it will be ! " These cheerful sentiments, however, 
 were forced, and did not by any means express her real 
 feelings, for she, too, had of late lost some of her gaiety. 
 Something had gone out of her life, something that in her 
 most solitary musings she blushed to recognise as the feeling 
 which lago had failed to kindle within her. Ever since the 
 Eisteddfod day life had worn a different aspect to her. 
 That Doctor Dan had thrust upon her the conviction that 
 he was tired of her, and would gladly see her married, had 
 been a bitter consciousness at first, but that feeling of 
 
 199
 
 200 ©n tbe Minos of tbe Min5 
 
 wounded pride and anger was already passing away, and 
 giving place to an abiding sense of loss, a heavy weight 
 that refused to be lightened ; and though she called all her 
 resolution and firmness to her aid, she could not banish 
 the strange new feeling that had entered her life. As she 
 paced slowly up and down at the water's edge, a dark face 
 would rise before her, whose eyes looked straight into her 
 own, and brought the warm blood surging into her cheeks. 
 " I thought he liked me, but he doesn't ! " was the 
 simple expression of her feelings; but those childish 
 words did not evidently express all the woman's heart 
 within her, for sitting down beside a rock, she flung her 
 arms upon it, and, burying her face upon them, broke into 
 a fit of sobbing, giving words to her sorrow, and confessing 
 in that deep solitude, " Oh, I love him, I love him ! I 
 would give my life for him, and he wants me to marry 
 lago ! " It was well that there was no one to hear the 
 heavy sobs but the birds that nested above her in the cliffs, 
 none but the night wind to dry the tears that flowed so 
 unrestrainedly. At last, exhausted, she ceased to weep, 
 and in the silence, the voices of the night began to whisper 
 peace and solace to her spirit. For quite an hour she con- 
 tinued to sit silent on the sand, breathing softly, as if 
 unwilling to disturb the soothing influence that was steal- 
 ing over her. "I know," she thought, "that God send 
 His gentle angels to those who open their hearts to them ; 
 those messengers of His who do His pleasure ! " And, 
 sitting there alone, she drank deeply of the draught of 
 spiritual comfort so often and so mysteriously offered to 
 those who will receive it. She rose at length, refreshed 
 and strengthened, and, as she turned homewards, all the 
 healthy instincts of the vigorous country girl re-awakened 
 within her, and although she abated not a whit of the 
 strong love that had taken possession of her, she began to 
 resent its thraldom, and to defy its power to depress her. 
 " Is it I, Miriel Lloyd," she said, with a toss of her head,
 
 "^be /Iftills of 00b" 201 
 
 " that is going to cry and to wail to the waves and wind 
 like this ? No, indeed, I will never ! " But as she crossed 
 the sands towards home, the tears still gathered in her 
 eyes, though she hastened to dry them, and to banish all 
 traces of sorrow from her face. She saw a shadow moving 
 across the window at Doloer, and drawing nearer, she heard 
 the loud chirp of a cricket who piped his nightly song on 
 the hearth. Entering the low, raftered penisha, all aglow 
 with the light of the fire of peat and driftwood, she found 
 Betta sitting on the little oak stool, looking into the fire, 
 her hands clasped round one knee. 
 
 " Well, indeed ! " said Miriel. " Here's a wonderful 
 thing ! " 
 
 " What? " answered Betta, a little shamefacedly. 
 
 " That you spare a minute for my company. Phil and 
 you will get tired of each other, I should think ! " 
 
 " You do not understand it, Miriel fach ! You are a 
 cold, calm, reasonable woman ; what can you know about 
 love 1 Can't you understand, then, that love takes posses- 
 sion of one entirely, body and spirit ? Yes, I would give my 
 soul for Phil ! " 
 
 " You are talking nonsense, lass, and some day you will 
 see it yourself. lago loves me — you know it, Betta — but 
 do you think he would say such foolish things as that ? 
 His soul ! his spirit ! indeed, I would not give a cockle 
 shell for a man who would say such things ! nor a woman 
 either, so there's for you ! " 
 
 " Well," said Betta, " we must all be ruled by our 
 planet," and she continued to rock herself backwards and 
 forwards, her shadow rising and falling on the rosy glow of 
 the whitewashed walls. 
 
 Miriel laughed. "That's what Mali says when she 
 breaks a basin, but I'm thinking if she didn't dash about so 
 much she might defy her planet." 
 
 " Twt, twt," said Betta, " but, indeed, there's wise you 
 are, Miriel."
 
 202 ®n tbe Wims of tbe Mint) 
 
 " Well, yes, to-night," said Miriel ; " though in my deed 
 I am not always so wise ! But what is it t Something ia 
 troubling you to-night 1 " 
 
 "No, nothing ; only Phil is going next week." 
 
 *' So soon ? 'Tis no wonder his father is grieving about 
 it." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Betta, " he will get over it in a day 
 or two ; and in this world there must be partings." 
 
 "'Tis you are wise now, Betta." 
 
 " Oh, I am not always foolish. No, we have not been 
 much together lately. To-night I thought to find you 
 sitting here, but you were gone. How is Gwen 1 " 
 
 "She's strange, very strange, so pale and silent, and 
 going to bed as soon as she has had her dinner." 
 
 " Won't you send for the doctor 1 " 
 
 "Yes, I suppose, if she does not alter soon." 
 
 " Well, I must go. Will we come down to-morrow night 
 for a song or twol Phil is wanting to come. He likes 
 that sailing song — he is always singing or whistling it." 
 
 " I don't think Nanti Gwen will be well enough to- 
 morrow, but soon I hope she will be better." 
 
 " Well, fforwel ! " and Betta went out humming, and 
 Miriel heard her singing as she went up the slope : — 
 
 " On the wings of the wind he is coming to me 
 Over the salt sea foam." 
 
 A little wistful longing looked out of Miriel's eyes as the 
 clear, rich notes came back on the breeze, and a sigh heaved 
 the frill on her neck a little. 
 
 "Love!" she thought as she sat on in the firelight. 
 " Yes, indeed, 'tis a strange thing ! bringing joy and happi- 
 ness to Phil and Betta, and only sorrow to lago and me ! " 
 
 Next day Gwen was no better. She ate her breakfast 
 silently, and afterwards sat listlessly in her chair, pushing 
 aside the rushes which Miriel laid on the table beside her.
 
 **Z\K /IDUls ot 6o5" 203 
 
 She only tasted her milk porridge at dinner, saying, "I 
 would rather go to bed." Miriel tried in vain to interest 
 her in the small details of the household ; the young 
 pigeons that had flown down with their parents for the first 
 time, the cheese of goats' milk which she was making, the 
 large cask of meth which stood fermenting in the corner 
 behind the settle. "It will be ready to-morrow, Nanti 
 Gwen. I have put a large piece of sweet brier in it, and it 
 is as clear as crystal. A cup of it will do you good now," 
 and she dipped a cupful out of the cask. Gwen tasted it 
 only, and laid it down, saying, " It ia very nice, but I want 
 to rest." She looked nervously through the window at the 
 slope where the furze shone golden in the afternoon sun, 
 and Miriel guessed rightly that she dreaded to see Silvan 
 Vaughan, so, no longer dissuading her, she led her into her 
 tiny bedroom, and spreading the quilt over her said, " Will 
 I leave the door open ? Then you will see me at my work, 
 and you won't be lonely." 
 
 " No, no, no," said Gwen ; " shut the door and leave me 
 alone. I want to sleep." 
 
 When Silvan Vaughan came down as usual he looked 
 anxiously round the room, 
 
 " Where is Gwen 1 " he asked, refusing the chair which 
 Miriel pushed towards him. 
 
 " She is no better, and is gone to bed." 
 
 " But she was down in the morning 1 " 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel, reluctantly, as she saw the careworn 
 face grow paler. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, with a long-drawn sigh, and stood 
 turning his rush hat in his fingers and looking down at the 
 smouldering peats on the floor. 
 
 At last he spoke. *' Miriel, lass ! " he said. " D'ye think 
 her memory has returned 1 " 
 
 " Yes, I think it has, and 'tis too hard for her to bear — 
 Nanti Matti's death and all." 
 
 " 'Tis too cruel for her, child. I was always afraid that
 
 204 m tbe Miuas of tbe Mtn^ 
 
 the peace and happiness of the last few weeks would 
 crumble away and leave me a lonely and miserable man, 
 and now it has come to pass, and I am just that, Miriel — 
 a lonely, miserable man. Will I ever see her again 1 " and 
 he looked eagerly in her face. 
 
 "I don't know, indeed. Perhaps she will get better. 
 She bid me say to you ' Up there,' " and she pointed up- 
 wards as Gwen had done. 
 
 He made no reply, but bent his head a little, while his 
 lips moved, and Miriel, filled with pity, laid her hand on his 
 arm and said, " Oh, I am feeling so sorry for you, Vone ! " 
 
 The soft touch, the gentle words recalled him from his 
 reverie. 
 
 " You have a kind heart, 'merch i, but don't pity me. I 
 had no pity ! " and, as if anxious to change the subject, he 
 asked, " Do you know that Phil is going next week 1 " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, 'tis a sore trial for you to part with him ; 
 but he will be back again in the spring." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I must let him go. Perhaps in the spring he 
 will marry his cousin. I would die easier for knowing that 
 Phil was settled and well provided for. Jinny Ffowkes is 
 rich and she's a nice girl." He stood still a few minutes 
 longer as if lost in thought, then, turning away, walked 
 slowly homewards, leaning heavily on his stick. 
 
 Next day Gwen declined to get up, turning her head 
 wearily on her pillow and shrinking so evidently from the 
 effort, that Miriel gave way to her, hoping for improvement 
 on the morrow ; but day after day jiassed on, bringing no 
 change to her, until at last Mali Storrom proposed making 
 a journey to Tregarreg to fetch Doctor Dan. 
 
 This proposal seemed so distasteful to Gwen, however, 
 that Miriel hesitated. 
 
 Gwen fretted and even shed tears. "No, no," she said. 
 " Not Dan ! I cannot see him ! " 
 
 Silvan Vaughan came no more, except to the doorway, 
 where his tall, bent figure looked more gaunt and haggard
 
 "ZhC mU5 of (30t>'* 20S 
 
 than ever against the golden brown background of wall- 
 flowers that lined the porch. 
 
 " How is she to-day ? " he would ask humbly, looking up 
 at Miriel with sad, hollow eyes ; and at her answer, " Just 
 the same," turning away silently. 
 
 It was late one afternoon in the same week when Miriel, 
 bending over her knitting in the chimney corner, and 
 often looking through the open doorway into the little bed- 
 room where Gwen lay sleeping, was startled by a sound 
 which she had longed and yet dreaded to hear — a footstep 
 in the porch, a shadow on the sunny floor, and Doctor Dan, 
 stooping his tall head from habit, entei'ed. 
 
 Miriel started to her feet and the hot blood which had 
 suffused her face at the first sound of a strange footstep 
 ebbed away and left her pale, and with a fluttering breath. 
 He took his usual chair, and holding out his hand drew her 
 from the gloom of the hearth to the full light of the win- 
 dow, looking keenly at the pale face, the drooping eyelids, 
 the lips that trembled a little. 
 
 "Oh, I thought so," he said, "wearing yourself out with 
 nursing. Gwen is ill. I know it all, child. I told you 
 how it would bo ! But you — it is killing you." 
 
 Here was the chance for which she had been longing. 
 If he would once more broach the subject of her choice 
 between Phil and lago, how easy it would be to tell him, 
 "I do not love either, I will not marry either," but he did 
 not. He had forgotten it all, Miriel thought. It was 
 nothing to him; while in reality, even at that moment, 
 the strong man was deeply moved at the sight of the 
 slender blue figure, the golden head, the grey eyes which 
 not even his strongest resolve could banish from his 
 thoughts. He was quite conscious of Miriel's sway over 
 his heart, she had entered there unawares to him, but she 
 had come to stay, of that he was quite aware, and so far 
 he bent his head to Fate's decree ; but the lessons of repres- 
 sion and self-control were not new to him, and outwardly
 
 2o6 ®n tbe MfuGS of tbe MfnD 
 
 Doctor Dan was the same calm, kiudly friend that he had 
 ever been, and Miriel began to feel that some strong 
 current was carrying her whither she would not. 
 
 " No, no," she said. " Indeed I am quite well and 
 strong." 
 
 " Do you think, Miriel," he said, shaking his head, " that 
 I cannot read these signs? Nights of watching, sorrow 
 and anxiety, are telling upon you." 
 
 Oh, foolish man ! but how could Miriel explain 
 On the contrary, she shrank into herself with a little cold 
 reserve. 
 
 " Where is Gwen 1 " he asked. 
 
 " She's asleep, but 'tis time to wake her ; will we go in ? " 
 And she led the way. There was no time for a word of 
 warning before he had passed down the two little steps 
 into the inner bedroom. 
 
 " No, no, no," said Gwen, nervously motioning with her 
 hands, as if thrusting from her an unwelcome presence. 
 " Not Dan ! I cannot bear it." 
 
 " Yes, yes, yes ! Dan himself. The very man that ought 
 to come," said the doctor, taking both her hands in his, and 
 smiling into her sorrowful face. 
 
 " And Miriel," he said, " will leave us alone for a little 
 while. Who knows 1 perhaps she will give me a cup of tea 
 before I go." 
 
 "Yes, child, go," said Gwen, already seeming to gather 
 strength from the hands that held hers so firmly. 
 
 Miriel closed the door gently, and went alone into the 
 living-room, her heart full of conflicting feelings — pain at 
 what she thought was Doctor Dan's indifference towards 
 the subject which had caused her so much sorrow, and 
 happiness in the mere fact of his presence. She busied 
 herself with her preparations for tea, the oatcakes, the 
 cream, the fresh honey, all the little dainties she could 
 gather from her stores, but all done without the charm 
 and joy with which she had formerly laid out her tea-table.
 
 *' Ube mils of 60& " 207 
 
 It recalled to her mind too her tea at Hendyrafon, when 
 she had sat at the spider-legged table, and seen the sun go 
 down over the foaming river. A cup for Deio she never 
 forgot, with a plate of white bread and butter, and she 
 carried it out, while the murmur of voices beyond the 
 closed black door, told her that the doctor and patient 
 were still engaged in conversation. 
 
 Deio was sitting as usual looking stolidly out over the 
 sea, but was quickly alive to the slim, blue figure that 
 approached him, carrying the little tray that always 
 awaited him at Doloer. 
 
 Of course he conformed to the peasant fashion of declin- 
 ing the refreshment many times before he accepted it. 
 At last, declaring over and over again that he had not 
 "expected such a thing," he allowed himself to be per- 
 suaded, and enjoyed a good meal. 
 
 " When are you coming again to Hendyrafon, 'merch i? " 
 he asked. "Betti and I would like you to be always 
 there, but I hear 'tis somewhere else you'll be before 
 long ; " and he pointed with his whip handle to where the 
 grey walls of Hafod gilded by the evening stood clear 
 against the blue sky. 
 
 A vivid blush flashed across Miriel's face at his words. 
 
 •' Deio," she said, " I have never been angry with you 
 before. You are talking nonsense. I don't like for people 
 to settle my plans for me — no, indeed, T can do that myself. 
 Doloer is my home and I am quite contented with it ; " 
 and she tossed her head with a little show of offended 
 pride. 
 
 " Well, well, well, begging pardon, 'merch i," said Deio, 
 a little bewildered. " She mustn't be angry with me." 
 
 "Ko," said Miriel, the frown giving place to a smile. 
 "I couldn't be; not long, whatever." And carrying the 
 tray into the house she took a survey of her tea-table. 
 While she was so engaged, the door opened and Doctor 
 Dan entered. When he had closed the heavy door he
 
 2o8 ®n tbe Minos of tbc 1imin& 
 
 stood for a moment lost in thought, the old dark cloud on 
 his face, his lips firmly pressed, his brows knitted, no sign 
 now of the flashing smile that sometimes lit up his face. 
 
 " I thought perhaps Nanti Gwen would get up to tea," 
 suggested Miriel. 
 
 He started. " No," he said, " let her be ; do not trouble 
 her to rise, she is better where she is ; in fact, Miriel, I 
 must prepare you for what is coming. She will not rise 
 from her bed again. I have never seen such a sudden col- 
 lapse. A week or two and it will be all over, and better for 
 her. Be tender to her, for she has suffered much. But 
 that's the last thing I need say to you, Miriel." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I will be kind to her,"' said Miriel. "How 
 did you know she was ill ? " 
 
 " I heard it at Bryndn, where I have been every day this 
 week ; but why did you not send for me, 'merch i ? Do you 
 still bear me a grudge? " 
 
 Miriel coloured hotly, and nervously tied and untied the 
 ribbon at her neck. Now was the time for explanation, 
 but she hesitatated and the opportunity slipped by. 
 
 " Is it for that bit of good advice I gave you ? Remember 
 that, be it Phil or lago, you have not a more faithful friend 
 in the world than I." And looking straight into her eyes 
 he added, "Do you believe that, Miriel? " 
 
 Her eyes were cast down to hide the tears that welled 
 up in them, aud her lips trembled a little as she answered, 
 " Yes, oh, yes, indeed ! " but pride witheld her from saying 
 more. If he would accuse her falsely, she would not 
 explain. 
 
 " Well, good-bye, then. I will come soon again, though 
 I can do but little for poor Gwen ; " and he passed out 
 into the porch, leaving Miriel standing disconsolately at 
 her tea-table. 
 
 " He has forgotten," she said. " He is full of other 
 thoughts ; he has been at Bryndn every day, and not come 
 down here. I am nothing to him, nothing, nothing ! "
 
 "ZEfce mils of 6o&" 209 
 
 And, covering her face with her hands, she shed the tears 
 which had so often risen to her eyes, but which she had 
 hitherto restrained with a sort of contempt for her own 
 weakness ; but now they would have their way, and sit- 
 ting down on the settle she succumbed to a fit of 
 sobbing. 
 
 " I have been a long time, Deio," said Doctor Dan, aa he 
 drew the little gate to, after him. 
 
 "No — no, I have had my tea, and I wasn't expecting 
 you to finish yours sooner," said Deio. 
 
 "Tea? Yes. By Jove 1 I'd forgotten. A little longer 
 you must wait." 
 
 "Yes — yes, go you," said Deio. He stared after his 
 master as he hurried back by the garden hedge, and his 
 muttered remarks were not complimentary. "Ts, ts, ts, 
 there he goes, as blind as a mole ! but I will not dare to 
 open his eyes, let him keep them shut if he likes then, ts, 
 ts, ts ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Doctor Dan had re-entered the living-room 
 so familiar to him. 
 
 " Miriel ! " he began, full of apologies, but at the sight 
 of the girl's sorrowful attitude, her heaving shoulders and 
 catching breath, he stopped, shocked and astonished. Was 
 this Miriel, the gay and light-hearted? It was plain, 
 indeed, that she was unstrung and worn out by Gwen's 
 illness, and by his too sudden announcement of the 
 approaching end. 
 
 "Forgive me, 'merch i," he said, "I am a blundering 
 fool to have spoken so plainly. Remember I am a lonely 
 man and not used to the ways of women." 
 
 " No, indeed," she answered. " You did not speak too 
 plain; 'tis not that at aU; I am quite willing for Nanti 
 Gwen to go. She has not a minute's happiness in this life, 
 so why should we want her to stay ? " 
 
 " What is it, then 1 Come, dry your eyes," and Miriel 
 hastened to make all sorts of foolish admissions, preferring 
 
 o
 
 210 ®n tbe mims of tbe Mfnb 
 
 to appear weak and childish than that he should suspect 
 the real source of her tears. 
 
 " It wasn't that, only I wanted to give you a nice tea, 
 and I had been preparing the table for you, and I was 
 disappoiated — there's foolish ! " 
 
 "Well, of course," he said, "and I was a dull boor, and 
 don't deserve such a dainty meal as this. Gwen's illness 
 made mo forget it, but, in my deed ! I'm as hungry as a 
 hunter, so you can easily punish me if you wish, by 
 refusing to let me taste that bread and butter." 
 
 "Oh, no," said Miriel. "Indeed you shall have your 
 tea ; " and drawing her chair to the table, she soon seemed 
 to forget her previous annoyance in the duties of hostess. 
 
 Doctor Dan too banished the cloud from his face, and in 
 his anxiety to make up for his forge tfulness laid himself 
 out to make the meal a pleasant one. 
 
 " Honey in the comb too, Miriel ! and that little sweet- 
 brier rose adorning it. I must give Betti a hint of that. 
 Well, for a dainty and appetising meal, give me tea at 
 Doloer ! But I must go now," he added, looking at his 
 watch. "Have you quite forgiven me?" 
 
 " There is nothing to forgive," said Miriel. " 'Twas I 
 was foolish. I hope you will forget that I have been so 
 childish."
 
 OHAPTER XVIII 
 
 betta's "planet' 
 
 It was, perhaps, in one sense a good thing for Miriel that 
 Gwen's rapidly-failing strength required such constant care 
 and attention that it gave her no time for brooding over her 
 troubles. 
 
 She felt that the chance of setting matters right had 
 escaped her, but, with a sense of loss and sorrow thrust 
 into the background of her life, she gave all her energies 
 and courage to the work of soothing and comforting Gwen's 
 last days. 
 
 Sometimes, sitting silently with her knitting by the 
 invalid's bed, her thoughts would run unconsciously into 
 the forbidden groove. 
 
 On one such occasion she thought, " What wonder that 
 he thinks nothing of me t He so learned and I so ignorant ! 
 How could I expect it 1 Nanti Matti used to say, ' Don't 
 forget you are a lady, de-an, though we are so poor now, 
 and living so far from everybody,' but I have neglected 
 my books shocking, so now I am very ignorant ! " and she 
 cast a wistful look at her old lesson-books, ranged as of 
 old on the little bookshelf in the corner of the living-room. 
 It comforted her a little to remember that Doctor Dan 
 had not minded her ignorance that day, that happy day, 
 when she had walked with him up the slope, and he had 
 asked her to fasten the white clover in his coat. 
 
 Through Gwen's little window she could see the grey walls 
 
 211
 
 212 ©n tbe Minas of tbe mint) 
 
 of Hafod, Betta passing backwards and forwards through the 
 clos, Phil sauntering about with his hands in his pockets, 
 the old man pacing up and down, a lonely grey figure 
 against the sky-line, while lago, the sober and industrious, 
 worked in the fields or shut himself up for an hour's relaxa- 
 tion with his books in his "study" at the end of the 
 hayloft. 
 
 The pigeons cooed, the geese cackled in the stubble 
 fields, and the wind whistled in the big chimney of the 
 living-room, for the autumn had made a sudden stride, 
 and was beginning to remind the inmates of Doloer that 
 wintry blasts were gathering beyond the grey north 
 horizon. 
 
 The Sea Gull was to sail from Porthlidan next day, and 
 Miriel was not surprised at Silvan Vaughan's dejected 
 appearance as he paced up and down, his head bent and 
 his hands clasped behind his back. She would have given 
 much to have been able to restore to liim and Gwen the 
 happy intercourse which they had enjoyed of late, but the 
 least allusion to him so distressed the invalid, that she had 
 ceased to make any effort to change the existing state of 
 affairs. The long day passed without a break in its 
 monotony, until in the evening Mali came in and took her 
 place, while she carried her pail to meet Kit and Brythen, 
 whose bleating had long told her it was milking-time. 
 
 " Come back soon, 'merch 1," Mali had whispered. " I 
 liave got news for you ! " 
 
 " News " was a scarce commodity on the slope, so it was 
 not without some degree of interest that Miriel re entered 
 and delighted Mali with her curiosity. 
 
 «' What is it, then, Mali, woman 1 " she asked as the 
 latter came in her "stocking feet" into the living-room, 
 having left her wooden shoes on the doorstep as usual. 
 
 " Well, what do you think, 'merch i ? Jinny vach vach 
 at Portldidan has losL l.cr pig; he swallowed a wooden 
 spoon and choked himself ; so she's going to have a tuy-
 
 Betta's "ipianet" 213 
 
 party to make up the loss, and what d'jou think? Stivin 
 and I have been ' called,' and we're going, there for you ! 
 Mari Jones came up to call us to-day, and she said she 
 hoped everyone from Doloer and Hafod would come too. 
 And she said 'twould be a fine tay-party, no doubt, for, 
 says she, 'Jinny vach vach has been busy making cakes by 
 the dozen, with keerens and nitmeg in them, 'so there ! " 
 
 •' Well, I can't go, of course," said Miriel, " but you shall 
 take my sixpence for me." 
 
 " Very well, 'merch i ; then I needn't give my own. Vone 
 and lago are going, because they will be driving Phil to 
 his ship to-morrow ; not to tay, of course, but just to give 
 a turn in, Vone said, and to drop a shilling, so I think I've 
 done a good turn for Jinny vach vach ! " 
 
 The latter personage had come by her name in a thor- 
 oughly Welsh fashion. Her mother from her diminutive 
 size being known as Jinny vach, or wee Jinny, it was 
 but natural that when she married, and became the 
 possessor of a baby girl, the newcomer, although christened 
 Jane Martha, should be known as Jinny vach vach, or wee 
 wee Jinny. She had grown into a fine tall woman, but 
 that made no difference to the appellation, which stuck 
 to her all her life. 
 
 "That is the worst," said Mali, "that Stivin and me 
 will have to come home by ourselves ! It will be dark, and 
 everyone knows there's a spirit on that road. There's 
 Gwen moving," and she ran softly back, while Miriel sat 
 down to her solitary tea on the hearth. 
 
 Next day Phil came in in the afternoon to bid her 
 good-bye, accompanied by lago. 
 
 " Well, indeed ! " said Miriel, " I wish you a pleasant 
 voyage, Phil bach ! and a safe return in the spring. 
 There's glad we will all be ! and your father will be better 
 by then, I hope. To-night you are sailing 1 " 
 
 " No ; to-night I am going on board. We will be in the 
 offing till the grey of the dawn. Too early for Queen
 
 2 14 On tbe "CGlinGS of tbe IPCllnD 
 
 Victoria to open her eyes and wave a good-bye to a 
 poor sailor." 
 
 " Oh, no," laughed Miriel. " I will run up to Hafod, and 
 you shall see my blue scarf with the other colours waving." 
 
 *'I'm afraid 'tisn't much sleep you are getting now, 
 Miriel, with Gwen so ill," said lago. 
 
 " No, not much, indeed ; but I am so strong, nothing 
 seems to do me harm. I will go up to comfort your father, 
 too. He will feel it shocking, pwr fellow ! " 
 
 " Why are you all croaking so much about my father 1 " 
 said Phil. " In my deed, I don't see the least change in 
 him the last five years ; besides, remember, he's an old 
 
 man now." 
 
 " Not so old," said Miriel, " only fifty, though he looks 
 full .seventy." 
 
 '^Only fifty? "When I am that age, tan i marw ! I'll 
 begin to pack up my bundle to go." 
 
 " Phil ! " said lago, " canst never bo serious 1 " 
 
 "Not I," said Phil, " but jar i! I must go! Come, 
 Miriel," he added, holding out his hand, his blue eyes 
 dancing with fun, a shaft of golden light just catching his 
 brown hair. 
 
 " 'Tis no wonder Betta loves him though I don't ! " 
 were her thoughts, though she held her head very high 
 when he, advancing, said, " Will she give me a kiss at 
 parting, then?" 
 
 "No, she will not," she answered, nodding a little 
 defiantly, and fixing her grey eyes upon him. 
 
 "Well, well, don't look so cross about it; a kiss more or 
 less is nothing to quarrel about. But take warning from 
 me, Miriel ! You'll die an old maid if you're so stiflF, for 
 I hear you're mighty particular ; you'll get no one to 
 care for your kisses on this dull slope except the sea wind.'' 
 
 "I'll keep them for the sea wind, then, and be quite 
 content," said Miriel, laughing. 
 
 " Well, good-bye, then, and da bo chi, till I come back
 
 Betta's **ipianct" 215 
 
 again in the spring ; " and whistling merrily he went out, 
 followed by lago, who had frowned impatiently at his 
 brother's words. 
 
 Later on, when the sun was sinking low in the west, 
 Phil took his final departure from Hafod, accompanied by 
 his father and lago, who drove him to Porthlidan and 
 watched him embark on the Sea Gull, which rocked and 
 swayed at anchor in the bay. For one moment, as he held his 
 father's hand at parting, a sober look came into his eyes, 
 and a tender word to his lips, as though the golden curtain 
 of youth and buoyancy were lifted for an instant, disclosing 
 the realities of life behind it, but as he stepped into the 
 boat in which the cabin-boy was to scull him to his ship, 
 his heart was as light as ever, and he called back to the two 
 men left standing on the rock, — 
 
 " Cheer up, father bach ! I'll be here to dance you 
 a hornpipe again in the spring." 
 
 Silvan Vaughan only answered with a wistful smile and 
 a wave of his hand ; then, getting into the car, he drove 
 silently homewards, stopping a moment, however, at Jinny 
 vach vach's, where lago deposited their two sixpences, 
 every guest being expected to pay that sum upon entering 
 the house. 
 
 "No tea, thank you, Jinny," he said; "my father is 
 waiting," at which stretch of generosity Jinny showed 
 much discomposure. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! " she exclaimed, " what ! two sixpences 
 and take nothing ? Well ! a cake apiece, whatever ! " and 
 she thrust them into his pocket as he got into the car. He 
 had caught a glimpse of Stivin and Mali, both deeply 
 immersed in the joys of the tea-table. 
 
 They had started from Doloer at four o'clock, having 
 first presented themselves for Miriel's inspection. 
 
 "How does he look? will he do?" said Mali. "I've been 
 at him since three, whatever, and I can't make him look 
 any better ! "
 
 2i6 ®n tbe Mings ot tbe MinD . 
 
 " He looks very well, and so do you," answered Miricl, 
 restraining the smile with which she afterwards watched 
 them go up the slope together ; for you might have sought 
 from Kamschatka to Peru, and not found a more extra- 
 ordinary, not to say ludicrous, looking couple, Mali's short 
 petticoats ! the handkerchief of brilliant red and yellow 
 which enfolded her head ! the little green shawl worn over 
 her shoulders pinned tightly down to the back of her waist, 
 the other ends crossed over her bosom ! her tall black hat 
 worn over the handkerchief and crowning the costume. 
 But it was Stivin's best suit that bore the palm. The 
 upper part of his person was encased in a jacket of dark 
 blue cloth, made after the fashion of a boy's Eton jacket 
 or of a dress coat without the tails, and adorned with brass 
 buttons of the size of a halfpenny. His trousers, which 
 had been his father's, had been altered by Mali to suit his 
 burly proportions, the tailless jacket revealing in the 
 nether garment, here a take in, there a let out. A chimney- 
 pot hat, much too small for his head, rested somewhere on 
 his mop of red hair, and out of his jacket pocket protruded 
 his handkerchief of blue and white cotton. Although 
 Miriel had seen them thus attired every Sunday of her life, 
 it was not to be wondered at that she looked after them 
 with a smile of amusement. 
 
 Betta was very much in evidence this evening, as she 
 passed in and out from the yard to the house, singing too 
 in her full contralto, the refrain of Gwen's song, which 
 no longer shed its harmonies over the hearth at Doloer ; — 
 
 " Sailing, sailing over the salt sea foam." 
 
 The clear voice came down on the evening breeze, reach- 
 ing Miriel's ears as she watched beside Gwen's bed. "I 
 wonder she sings so loud and so joyful," she thought, " and 
 Phil going away ; but 'tis to show she doesn't care, no 
 doubt. Poor Betta ! " and she continued to sit watching the 
 moor, as it turned to purple and gold in the sunset light.
 
 Betta'6 ''UManet" 217 
 
 She saw lago and his father return in the car from Porth- 
 lidan, she heard the cooing of the pigeons, and the cawing 
 of the rooks as they flapped lazily home to their nests 
 on the cliffs ; later on, she saw the pale crescent moon 
 above the Hafod chimney, and gradually the shadows 
 falling, and the stars coming out ; and still Gwen lay pale 
 and silent, obediently taking any nourishment or medicine 
 offered to her, but showing no sign of interest or 
 recuperation. 
 
 It was quite late when at last Miriel heard the sound of 
 footsteps coming round the garden hedge, which hurried 
 into a rush as they reached the porch and burst into the 
 penisha. Mali and Stivin had returned from their "tay- 
 party " with every appearance of flurry and fright. 
 
 •' Oh, Dei anw'l ! Let me shut the door," said Stivin, 
 turning hastily to slip the wooden bolt into its place, while 
 Mali, too breathless too speak, went through a series of 
 pantomime gestures that roused Miriel's curiosity as well as 
 amusement. She pressed her hand to her side, as if to still 
 her fluttering heart, she held up her closed fist, she wrung 
 her hands, while Stivin sat down panting for breath. 
 
 *' We have run the last half mile ! " gasped Mali at last. 
 " Oh, Miriel ! 'tis true what they say about a bwcci on the 
 road to Porthlidan, and we have seen it ! It was in the 
 form of a woman, coming to meet us as if she was coming 
 from here. ' Who is this ? ' said Stivin, ' going to Porth- 
 lidan so late? 'Tis a woman just coming into the shadow 
 of those tall bushes.' " 
 
 " ' I hope it isn't the bwcci ! ' said I ; now, didn't I, 
 Stivin 1 " 
 
 "Yes, thou didst," said Stivin, nodding his head as if 
 he was certifying an important fact. " Those were the very 
 words." 
 
 "Well," continued Mali, "when we came to the place, 
 'merch i, there was nobody there ! Nothing but the white 
 road, with the thorn bushes each side, and the wind
 
 2i8 m the Minos of tbe mtu& 
 
 whispering in them enough to daunt you. We ran by 
 the place, 'twas a dark corner, and I'll swear there was 
 nobody there, but when we looked back, what did we see, 
 d'you think, but the black figure of a woman. There she 
 was, as plain as Kfe, hurrying on, her cloak fluttering 
 in the wind behind her. No one passed us, and yet there 
 she was flying along the road to Porthlidan ! Pass us, no 
 doubt she did, ach y fi ! but invisible as the wind, and most 
 like it was she was whispering in those bushes if the truth 
 were known." 
 
 " You may be sure of that ! " interpolated Stivin. 
 "Never again will I lay my foot to that road in the dark." 
 
 Miriel could give no explanation, but offered to accom- 
 pany them round the corner of the house to their own 
 dwelling. 
 
 " No, no, only lend us a lantern, 'merch i, and we'll 
 venture, whatever ! " and in terrified silence they went 
 out, Miriel softly bolting the door and returning to her 
 watching beside Gwen's bed. 
 
 In the first grey of the morning she rose, and looking 
 up towards Hafod saw there were already signs of move- 
 ment there. Dressing hurriedly, she went up the sloi)e 
 all spangled with dew, behind her the sea stretched away 
 to the horizon, the silver of the rising sun just catching 
 its ripples beyond the shadow of the hills. 
 
 Silvan Vaughan was the first to greet her with a 
 " Boron, da Miriel ! you are just in time, here's the Sea 
 Gull coming round the point. Now, lago ! Come, lads 
 and lasses all, and wave her ' fforwel.' " lago followed 
 by the farm servants ranged themselves at the top of 
 the slope, each one waving some article of brilliant colour. 
 
 " Where is Betta ? " said Miriel. 
 
 "She's in the gable window, be bound," said Mari, 
 and she did not press the question, thinking it likely that 
 Betta was hiding her tears at her own little window. 
 
 The sea was every moment growing lighter as it caught
 
 Betta's "planet" 219 
 
 the sun sparkles, and the Sea Gull bounded gaily on her 
 way. Phil had hoisted a flag to the mast, which 
 fluttered on the breeze, as the ship ploughed her way 
 across the offing, and at last turned her prow to the far- 
 off horizon. Silvan Vaughan's very soul seemed to look 
 out of his eyes as he gazed at the receding ship. In- 
 voluntarily he stretched out his hands to the sea, as the 
 Sea Gull bore straight ahead, every moment growing 
 smaller and fainter in the distance. There was no turning 
 back, so at last he turned to re-enter the house, lago 
 drawing his arm through his own, and guiding his unsteady 
 footsteps. " Come, father bach 1 " he said, " here's a 
 roaring fire Mari has lit, and Miriel will stop to breakfast 
 with us." 
 
 " Where's Betta ? " now asked everyone, except Miriel, 
 who ran noiselessly up to the loft to condole and sym- 
 pathise with her friend. 
 
 But in Betta's little cupboard room there was no sign of 
 her. Her bed, with its coverlet of brilliant patchwork, 
 was smooth and unrumpled, and, looking round in 
 astonishment, Miriel saw that her " box," that invariable 
 vade mecum of the country girl, had disappeared ; there 
 was no sign of Betta anywhere, no ribbons, no shoes, no 
 kerchiefs ; and, with a terrible sinking of the heart, she 
 sought for lago, and found him and his father somewhat 
 annoyed at Betta's absence. 
 
 " Is she coming ? " lago inquired of Miriel. " We want 
 breakfast ! " But startled by her white face, he stopped 
 short, and followed her into the clos — " What is it, Miriel? 
 for mercy's sake tell me what is it 1 " 
 
 " Oh, lago ! I don't know ; but where is Betta ? She's 
 not in the loft — her bed has not been slept in — Oh, dear ! 
 oh, dear ! where is she 1 " and at the same moment there 
 came into her mind a vision of the flying figure that 
 Mali and Stivin had seen hurrying through the darkness 
 to Porthlidan !
 
 220 ®u tbe Mings of tbe MtnD 
 
 It was now lago's turn to be frightened. He turned 
 deadly pale. " God help us ! " he exclaimed, " if what I 
 fear is true. Can she have gone to Porthlidan this 
 morning 1 " 
 
 " What for ? " said they all. 
 
 "Perhajis to bid Phil a last good-bye. He might have 
 rowed in in the boat," suggested lago. 
 
 " But her bed ! " said Miriel, and so intent were they 
 upon their conjectures, that they did not hear a footstep 
 approaching them on the soft stubble, until Silvan Vaughan 
 himself grasped lago's arm, and looking round startled, 
 they saw tbe old man, his face growing grey and drawn 
 with some dawning apprehension. 
 
 " What is it ? " he asked. " Where's Betta 1 " 
 
 " Well, we don't know," said lago ; " but father anw'l ! we 
 must not jumj) to conclusions. Perhaps she is gone to 
 Doloer and has missed Miriel." 
 
 " Have you looked in her room t " and Miriel, willing 
 to stave off the moment of certainty, turned to search 
 once more. 
 
 Before she had gone many yards towards the house, 
 however, Mari came running out, and the old man's pale 
 face turned to her with an eager look of expectancy. 
 " Betta ! " he gasped. 
 
 " Gone, mishteer 1 Her bed has not been slept in, and 
 her box is gone. She's gone with Phil, no doubt, for I 
 know she was dying in love with him," she said volubly. 
 But Silvan Vaughan heard little of her chatter, for at the 
 word " gone " he had reeled forwards, and before Mari had 
 spoken her last words, with a cry of " Phil ! Phil ! " ho 
 had fallen on the stubble, lago trying in vain to support 
 him. 
 
 " Run, Miriel ! For God's sake, some brandy ! " and she 
 flew over the stubble, returning quickly with the stimulant 
 which had always hitherto revived the frail frame. But it 
 was of no avail to-day ; in vain lago poured a little be-
 
 Betta's '♦ planet " 221 
 
 tween the blue lips, in vain Miriel rubbed the white 
 hands, for Silvan Vaughan was dead, the heart that had 
 so long flagged and failed had ceased to beat, under the 
 sudden shock that had overwhelmed him. 
 
 The farm servants came running from field and barn, 
 and together they bore him into the house, and laid him 
 in the " preachers' room," where Mali Storrom, fetched 
 by Mari, was soon in attendance, moving about softly in 
 her stocking feet, and tearfully calling to mind every kind 
 or pleasant word that the dead man had spoken to her. 
 
 And so silence fell on the old grey house, broken only 
 by the soft whisper of the sea and the cawing of the rooks 
 in the ivy-covered gable. In the clos the servants stood 
 about in little groups, talking with bated breath of the 
 sudden removal of their old master, and the loneliness of 
 the young man who would now fill his place in field and 
 market. But it was on the hearth at home they felt that 
 the solitude would press most heavily on the young master, 
 and " that hussy of a girl, Betta," came in for her full 
 share of censure and contumely. 
 
 •'He will marry now, pwr fellow," said Morgans, of 
 Bryn, his nearest neighbour, " and, indeed, I have heard 
 that he is courting Miriel Lloyd, of Doloer. Well, he 
 can afi"ord to marry without money, and, barring that fault, 
 'twill be a good match for him, for she has good blood in 
 her." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," said Essec Jones. '* They're a genteel 
 family at Doloer ! " and thus, in the countryside gossip, it 
 came to be a matter of common talk, accepted and approved 
 of, that lago Vaughan, yr Hafod, and Miriel Lloyd, of 
 Doloer, would be married when the time of decent mourn- 
 ing had elapsed. 
 
 At many a farm on the countryside the rumour reached 
 the ears of Doctor Dan and Deio, the former accepting it 
 as the inevitable, Deio with an inscrutable look of stolid 
 indifierence.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 GLANBERI 
 
 On the day following his father's funeral, lago sat alone on 
 the hearth at Hafod ; Miriel, full of sympathy for his lone- 
 liness, would have stayed in the house and endeavoured to 
 make up for Betta's absence had not Gwen's increasing 
 weakness called her away. 
 
 " I must go, lad ; you know it, I must not leave Nanti 
 Owen. But I am feeling it all with you, lago, and I will 
 come up often." 
 
 "Yes, I understand it all ; you must go," he said. "'Tis 
 better so, T had better face ray loneliness at once." And 
 Miriel returned to Doloer with a heart full of questioning 
 trouble. It seemed to her that some unkind fate had 
 descended upon Doloer and Hafod, some ungenial wind 
 had ruffled the calm lake of their existence. "So happy 
 we were," she thought, "and now it is all so sad," but she 
 dried her eyes as she ran down the slope, and entered 
 Doloer with a smile of greeting for Gwen, who, however, 
 was evidently too inert and weak to notice it. For, after 
 all, if sorrow and death were shading their lives for the 
 present, in Miriel's nature there was a perennial spring of 
 courage and joy, which brightened to her even the darkest 
 scenes, and whispered to her that gloom could not last, and 
 that happiness must be the lot of all God's children some 
 day. And were not the waves still dancing in the sun- 
 
 222
 
 ©lanbcrt 223 
 
 light and the sea birds still calling 1 Were not the wall- 
 flowers still blooming in the porch? And did not the 
 household and Nanti Gwen provide sufficient employment 
 for all her thoughts and energies 1 
 
 " Is she worse, Mali ? " she asked, looking at Gwen, when 
 she returned from Hafod. The face seemed strangely 
 sunken, and the fluttering breath scarcely audible. 
 
 " Yes, 'merch i," said Mali, in an undertone. " She will 
 not last the day." But here she was wrong, for when the 
 sun set and the moon rose Gwen was still alive, Miriel 
 sitting beside her bed, while Mali sat in the background 
 knitting, where the home-made candle made a small halo 
 round its own head. The window was uncovered, and 
 through it the moon shone in upon Gwen's bed, and upon 
 her still, white face. The hours passed slowly on, Miriel 
 gazing alternately on the pale face and at the flying clouds 
 that hurried over the moon, and listening to the monotonous 
 breaking of the waves on the shore. At midnight, when 
 the tide turned, there was a change in the sound of the 
 sea, and a sense of change too in the quiet atmosphere of 
 the little room. Suddenly Gwen rose to a sitting posture, 
 she who had lain so helplessly inert for days. Miriel drew 
 nearer with the intention of supporting her, but stood still 
 in awed astonishment as she saw the complete change in 
 the expression of her face. The look of collapse and weak- 
 ness was gone — transformed into one of intense interest. 
 A light as of joyful surprise illumined her features, and, 
 stretching both hands as far as she could towards the foot 
 of the bed, she exclaimed, " Matti ! Silvan ! " and sank 
 back in Miriel's arms dead, with that happy smile still on 
 her lips. 
 
 Meanwhile, lago sat in his Bardic Chair in the old living- 
 room at Hafod, trying to arrange the affairs of his farm, 
 which had all been left as much as possible unattended to 
 during the few days preceding the funeral, for such days 
 are considered as sacred as Sabbath days in Wales.
 
 224 ®n tbe Minos ot tbe mM 
 
 When Miriel had left, he had found plenty to occupy his 
 time and thoughts until the evening, when, sitting alone 
 by the hearth, the fire of logs casting fitful shadows on the 
 walls, he realised to the full the life of loneliness that lay 
 before him. The rush hat which his father had worn, the 
 staff he had leant upon, hung on their accustomed hook ; 
 the cows, fastened to their posts, stood in a row at the 
 further end beyond the passage, their gentle eyes and soft 
 breathing giving a little life to the stillness ; and, sitting 
 there alone, he pondered with bitter feelings on the 
 deceitful conduct of Phil and Betta, which had not only 
 brought disgrace to themselves, but had been so cruel and 
 fatal a blow to his father. He paced up and down rest- 
 lessly, and at last unbolted the hea\-y door and went out 
 into the night air, continuing his slow pacing backwards 
 and forwards at the top of the slope, and frequently look- 
 ing down at the little gable window at Doloer, where the 
 light in Gwen's room made a little glow through the un- 
 curtained window. Occasionally he saw a movement in 
 the room, and, thinking it was Miriel, he drew gradually 
 nearer, until at last he could watch her figure as it bent 
 over the bed or sat looking out at the moon. The flying 
 clouds above him, the swish of the sea, the hooting of the 
 owls in the Hafod walls, the roar of the breakers on the 
 reef that crossed the bay, the chirping of the crickets at 
 Doloer — nothing of the beauty of this was lost upon his 
 poetic temperament, and, as he stood in the fitful moon- 
 light, a silent black figure, a soothing calm fell upon his 
 soul, and he realised the truth of the old Druidical 
 motto, "A Diw a digon" ("Having God having every- 
 thing "). 
 
 As the days passed on, the old content and cheerfulness 
 seemed to have returned to Doloer and Hafod, and, with a 
 natural desire for human companionship, to say nothing 
 of the warmer feelings that still reigned in lago's heart 
 towards Miriel, these two young lives drew towards each
 
 (Blanberi 225 
 
 other, finding solace for their loneliness in the friendship 
 which had begun with their first acquaintance. 
 
 Both had been left peculiarly alone, to tread the journey 
 of life, and in each the sorrowful experiences of the last 
 fortnight were to bring forth the fruits which grew most 
 naturally from the soil of their respective natures. Miriel, 
 with the exuberant vitality of a healthy country girl, would 
 rise victorious from the depressing influences which had 
 latterly shadowed her life, and lago would take to heart 
 the lessons of patience and brave endurance which, in his 
 nature, were the reasonable outcome of the circumstances 
 through which he had passed. 
 
 It was Sunday morning, though there was little to dis- 
 tinguish it from any other day on moor or shore, except, 
 indeed, that Stivin and Mali had walked sedately up the 
 slope in their best clothes ; no footsteps hurrying to church 
 or chapel, no jangle of bells marked the day. The waves 
 tossed their crests just as freely in the sunlight, the sands 
 spread just as golden, the gulls and sea crows were just as 
 busy as on any other day, for, after all, was it not always 
 Sunday here ? The great, broad sea telling of God's glories, 
 the winds hymning His praises and the birds taking up the 
 chorus. Thus lago thought as he came down the slope 
 about a month after his father's death. 
 
 " Will we go to church, Miriel 1 " he asked, entering the 
 shady penisha, and her face kindled with pleasure as she 
 turned from the hearth to greet him. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, let us go," she answered; "there is 
 nothing to keep me at home now ; I will dress in a 
 minute. But what is that?" she added, as lago opened 
 the sheets of a newspaper and laid it on the table. " Oh, 
 lago ! Another prize ? " 
 
 "No," he said; "something better, only 'tis too late," 
 and from a corner of the Teithiwr he read aloud the 
 announcement of Phil and Betta's marriage. 
 
 " In Liverpool on the 18th ! If my father had only seen 
 
 p
 
 226 ©It tbe xmilnGS of tbe m\n^ 
 
 it ! It is Philip's writing on the address, but not a line 
 has he written of excuse or explanation. I can never 
 forgive them their cruel conduct." 
 
 " I knew Betta loved him dearly," said Miriel ; ** but I 
 did not know Phil cared so much for her that he would 
 marry her. Dir anw'l ! Even now I cannot think of him 
 as a married man ; he was so thoughtless, and Betta so 
 rash and hasty." 
 
 As they walked up the moor together they continued to 
 converse on the same subject. 
 
 " No, I cannot think any good will come of it," said 
 lago. " I find out, from my father's accounts, that he 
 gave Phil £50 before he left. Poor fellow ! he little 
 thought what he wanted it for, or he would never have 
 given it. He was so set upon Phil's marrying Jinny 
 Ffowkes. Indeed, I thought PhU liked her too. But 
 there ! 'Tis no use grieving over the past, we can't 
 alter it." 
 
 "No," said Miriel, stooping to gather a creamy white 
 clover and looking at it pensively; "and after all, lago, if 
 they loved each other, why should Jinny Ffowkes come 
 between them ? Real love seems such a precious thing ; 
 that's what I'm feeling, whatever ! " and she fastened the 
 clover in her bodice. 
 
 " Is that what you are feeling, indeed f " said lago, smil- 
 ing at the verbal difficulty. " Well — perhaps some day you 
 will pick it up, and wear it, like that clover ! " 
 
 Miriel stammered and blushed, for she had forgotten for 
 the moment all that had passed between her and lago. 
 
 "I mean it may turn to good after all," she said. "Phil 
 will grow more steady, and Betta will be so happy." 
 
 "Well, perhaps; but I could never be happy if my 
 conduct had caused my father's death," said lago, sternly. 
 He was recalling his self-control and the cool, unconcerned 
 manner which for a moment he had laid aside, and Miriel 
 was at her ease again.
 
 (Blanbert 227 
 
 She was sometimes troubled with compunctions and 
 regrets concerning lago's life of loneliness, and it 
 was only his generally carefully - guarded words and 
 manner that made their intercourse so free from 
 constraint. 
 
 Glanberi Church was quite three miles from Doloer and 
 Hafod, so the little bell had almost ceased to tinkle when 
 they arrived in the porch. 
 
 Perched on a steep hillside, the weather-beaten edifice had 
 stood for centuries almost unchanged ; the old white-haired 
 vicar rising Sunday after Sunday to read and preach to 
 the string of nearly empty pews that stretched before him, 
 the scant congregation to quaver through the same old 
 hymns that their fathers and grandfathers had sung before 
 them ; or they sat down to snuffle and cough in the same 
 manner. Occasionally a baby lifted up its voice and wept, 
 sometimes a dog walked up the whole length of the church 
 in search of his master, and, finding him asleep, curled him- 
 self round at his feet and slept also. 
 
 All this was very reprehensible, no doubt, but it did not 
 grate on lago and Miriel. On the contrary, how pleasant 
 was the cool calmness of the old building, how soothing the 
 old hymns, that rose and fell without hurry and without 
 accompaniment. The old familiar Liturgy too, that for 
 many generations had fallen on the ears now lying deaf to 
 all earthly sounds under the green mounds in the church- 
 yard, how soothing it was ! The sermon too seemed little 
 less familiar, for if the old vicar did choose a new text 
 every Sunday, it was very difficult not to fall into the same 
 old platitudes and the same old arguments. 
 
 The congregation, however, were entirely satisfied, and 
 were dismissed at last, feeling quite refreshed by their quiet 
 doze. 
 
 They loved the old church and the old vicar with a depth 
 of afiection seldom accorded to the modern hardworking 
 clergy ; they would have shared their last loaf with the
 
 228 ®n tbe Mings of tbe MinO 
 
 Rev. Jabez Jones, they were ready at all times, in sunshine 
 or storm, to help him with his gardening, or harvesting, to 
 drive him to market or fair, funeral or wedding. His 
 surplice, which did not quito reach his knees, had become 
 shorter year by year as its frayed hem was periodically 
 " turned up " by some thrifty member of his congregation, an 
 attention which he never noticed, even as he never took 
 note of the increasing spots of iron-mould which covered it, 
 as though from a shower of yellow rain. 
 
 Occasionally, when it became quite too dingy in colour, 
 an old woman would carry it home over her arm, and would 
 wash it, and " blue " it very generously before returning it 
 to the vestry. 
 
 As Miriel and lago emerged into the crisp autumn air 
 after the service, they both sighed, and smiled as they 
 detected ettch other doing so. It was partly a sigh of 
 appreciation of the old swaying hymns and the long rest, 
 and partly of satisfaction at being released from the sleepy 
 atmosphere. As if by mutual consent, they turned towards 
 a shady corner of the churchyard, where lay, not far apart, 
 tbe three graves whose occupants had borne a part in the 
 events so closely connected with both their lives. Over 
 Matti's the green velvet turf was sprinkled with daisies, but 
 the two others still looked rough and unfinished, waiting for 
 the gentle hand of Nature to mould the rough clods into 
 smootliness and beauty. 
 
 "They lie still, Miriel," said lago; "but if they could 
 speak what would they say to us to-day, I wonder 1 " 
 
 Miriel did not answer at once, but stood silently musing. 
 
 " One thing I am sure they would say, lago ; I'm think- 
 ing it is this : ' Don't forget us, but don't grieve ; because 
 the very best thing has happened to us that God could 
 send.' lago, I am an ignorant girl, and you are a learned 
 man — oh, yes, indeed ! I know, j-our poetry shows me that, 
 and your talk is more smooth than ours— ^but the simplest 
 can learn Uod's secrets, and I am thinking that is one of
 
 Glanberi 229 
 
 them ; that when our time comes, death is the very best 
 thing God has to give us. You are smiling ! at my simple 
 words, perhaps." 
 
 " No, no," said lago. " I was smiling at the beautiful 
 thought. Let us go home ; we won't forget them, but we 
 won't grieve for them, Miriel." 
 
 "No," she said, and together they passed under the lych 
 gate and took their way through the lanes and fields 
 towards the coast. Arrived at the top of the slope, their 
 ears were assailed by sounds most unmusical and curious, 
 evidently emanating from Doloer or its precincts. 
 
 " 'Tis Stivin and Mali ! " said Miriel, laughing. " They are 
 repeating their 'Pwnc ' together; 'tis a long chapter, and next 
 Sunday they will have to repeat it in chapel. Indeed, there's 
 wrong I am, but I must always laugh when they are learn- 
 ing their ' Pwnc,' and they are so serious about it too." 
 
 "No wonder you laugh," said lago, "the two voices are 
 so diflPerent. Yes, there's the last verse, now they will sing 
 a hymn together ; " and on the clear autumn air their voices 
 came up the slope in the most extraordinary blending that 
 harmony ever bore ; Stivin's deep bass in a continual 
 rumble, accompanying Mali's sharp, metallic voice, which 
 roamed and quavered round the tune with turns and grace 
 notes ad libitum. 
 
 " On my word ! 'tis like the Scotch music we heard in the 
 fair ; the tunes that the man with the bag and the {)ipes 
 and the bare legs gave us. Do you remember, lass ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel ; " I couldn't tliink that day what his 
 tunes brought to my mind, but I know now; there they are, 
 on the bench at the door ; " and, catching sight of them, 
 Stivin waved his hand round two or three times, and called 
 out, "lago! come here, man!" in stentorian tones, that 
 were brought to a sudden stop by a nudge from Mali's 
 sharp elbow reminding him it was Sunday. 
 
 " There ! " he said huskily, trying to modulate his tones, 
 and holding his Bible towards lago. " Come and hearken 
 
 l^ /•,',^-
 
 230 ®n tbe Minos of tbe xmiint) 
 
 us our chapter, and question us close as you can now, for 
 you are a knowing man, lago, boy, and we'll be safer to 
 appear before the preacher at Zion ; he's an awful dodger, 
 remember you, so question us close." 
 
 " Caton pawb ! I can't," said lago, " Give it to 
 Miriel." 
 
 " Nor I, indeed," said Miriel, shyly ; " I couldn't question 
 you ; I don't know much myself." 
 
 " Well, tan i marw ! " said Stivin, " there's far back you 
 are, both of you. We'll have to question each other, Mali. 
 But come in with us now and drink your cawl, 'tis boiling 
 over, and a nice piece of bacon in it, as well as Miriel's 
 fowl." And with the simple familiarity of rustic ways, 
 both Miriel and lago accepted the proffered hospitality, 
 delighting the hearts of the old people by declaring they 
 had never tasted such cawl. 
 
 To lago the hours spent in Miriel's presence still sped 
 with fleeter foot, and left more golden light behind them 
 than any others, although his dream of happiness had been 
 buried out of sight by her plain speaking and her subsequent 
 unembarrassed and open friendship ; and, as he turned to 
 wards his solitary home, he tried to banish from his heart 
 the longing for a closer and more tender tie. Sitting 
 alone under the wide chimney he missed the grey, stoojjing 
 figure that had been his companion for so many years, and 
 even Betta's bright and rather boisterous ways, the full, 
 red lips, the glistening black eyes, returned to his mind 
 with more appreciation than they had ever possessed in her 
 presence. He did not fare so badly in his solitude as some 
 men would have done, for Mari and Madlen vied with each 
 other in their care of the young master, and in trying to 
 fill up the gap caused by Betta's sudden flight. They had 
 always been a little jealous of the place she filled in the 
 household, and were not sparing in their censures now that 
 she had fallen from her superior position ; and it was with 
 a look of blank astonishment, not unmixed with annoyance,
 
 (Blauberi 231 
 
 that they listened to lago's reading aloud of the announce- 
 ment in the Tiethiivr of Phil and Betta's marriage. 
 
 "Jar i ! there's a sly girl she was," said Madlen, who had 
 felt a little sentimental predilection for the handsome sailor. 
 
 lago had neat domestic ways with him, too, which 
 prevented his being entirely dependent upon the women 
 folk for comfort ; his poetic temperament and literary 
 tastes and abilities also stood him in good stead. 
 
 There was no longer occasion for him to retire to hia 
 hayloft study ; there was plenty of room for his writing- 
 table under the Lwvwr chimney beside his Bardic Chair, 
 and Miriel, who came in frequently, remembered, as she 
 saw the solitary student writing or reading in the chimney 
 corner, her dreams of the old harpist, who sat in that very 
 spot producing from his phantom strings such strains of 
 music as she had never heard in reality. She told him of 
 her dreams one day, and of the place he filled on the 
 hearth, as she sat with her knitting opposite him for an 
 hour's chat, " And indeed, 'tis strange," she said, " although 
 you are young and he was old, and although 'tis poetry 
 that you make and not music, 'tis strange, lago, you seem 
 the same person that I used to fancy sitting there." 
 
 *' Perhaps 'twas a prophetic dream, Miriel, and you will 
 see me here bent and grey some day." 
 
 " Well, Ann came true, too, for that was Betta ; but the 
 woman and the children." 
 
 lago smiled. " I think 'twas like all dreams, Miriel, a 
 mixture of truth and folly." 
 
 "Yes," said Miriel, looking into the fire, "and the music 
 he played, I'm sure I'll never hear ; so strange it was, so 
 sad and so beautiful. I have come up to ask will Mari 
 lend me a cheese vat? Mine cracked in two yesterday." 
 
 " Why, of course," said lago, hurrying to the dairy, 
 "anything in the house, Miriel, as if — as if — as if Betta 
 were here." 
 
 *' Can Diolch ; " and she turned away with her cheese vat,
 
 232 ®n tbe min^s of tbe Min& 
 
 unconscious that he had been on the point of saying, " as if 
 it were your own." 
 
 She sang over her cheese-making too, unconscious that 
 the wind carried her voice up the slope, that lago's grave 
 eyes had followed her flying footsteps, and that her song 
 brought a more sorrowful look into his eyes. 
 
 Mali and Stivin had repeated their chapter at the 
 *' Pwnc " with great ^clat, though they had not won the 
 prize, which exasperated Stivin so much that he declared 
 that he would not wear out his tongue and his teeth 
 by learning another. Nevertheless he and Mali had 
 already begun another which was to be repeated at a 
 Christmas "school meeting." "And Christmas won't be 
 long," said Stivin, " though 'tis only October ; next week 
 'twill be November, and then Christmas comes slap upon 
 us ; and the storms, Dei anw'l ! I don't know what is the 
 sea thinking about this year — nothing but smiles and soft 
 Bongs, if you please." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Miriel, " it has been beautiful, what- 
 ever." 
 
 "Oh, stop a bit," said Stivin, "he'll be waking soon, and 
 showing his teeth out there ; " and he shook his closed fist 
 at the rippling sea. 
 
 " Well, you'll be ready for him," said Miriel, laughing. 
 
 " Yes, I've got my tarpaulins and my lifebelt ready ; " and 
 Stivin snorted like a warhorse who scents the battle afar 
 off. He pointed his brown, thick finger northwards. 
 " There's signs up there," he said, "that are making me 
 think the storms won't wait till November; and time 
 enough, too," he added indignantly. 
 
 And he was right ; when the 11th of November came the 
 season was quite justifying its Welsh name of " Clyngeia 
 \yinter calend." 
 
 The wintry blasts that had gathered beyond the grey 
 north horizon were blowing straight in upon the un- 
 sheltered coast, sweeping up the slope and bending the
 
 Glanberi 233 
 
 rushes in their path. In the roads and lanes the grasses 
 lay flat on the clear, brown pools under the hedges ; the 
 black, shrivelled leaves of the meadow-sweet, which had 
 decked the road with its creamy blossoms in the summer, 
 now turned their grey backs to the sunshine, shivering like 
 ragged beggars under the hedges ; the brown and golden 
 fronds of the bracken bending over them as if in pity for 
 their shabbiness ; and although the sun shone brilliantly, 
 the wind rushed through the furze and broom, and hissed 
 significantly in the crooked thorn bushes. Miriel and 
 lago, on their way to church on Sundays, were strewn with 
 the dry crisp leaves of the beech trees, instead of the elder 
 blossom and wild rose leaves which had carpeted the ground 
 in the summer. 
 
 Mali Storrom closed her door and knitted close to her 
 tiny fire, while Stivin, in his element, joined the herring 
 fishers on the stormy bay, providing Miriel and Mali with 
 sufiicient employment in curing the herrings which he 
 brought home from his fishing. Every day they salted the 
 silver haul, bending them frequently head to tail to make 
 sure they were properly prepared, and when they bent 
 easily, throwing them into the tubs with layers of salt ; in 
 a few days they were washed and hung up to dry in rows 
 in the smoke of the chimney, and when the wattled sides 
 were filled with the silver garlands, both Mali and Miriel 
 felt they were well provided against the plain bareness of 
 the winter's food. Darker and greyer grew the sky, fiercer 
 and wilder the storms, but Miriel's vitality rose triumphant 
 over all gloom ; her goats, her needle and her household 
 work filled up all her time, and at almost every hour of the 
 short grey day she might be heard singing at her work. 
 Duin she knew not the meaning of the word; with Mali 
 and Stivin to entertain her, and lago's visits sometimes, 
 to vary the monotony of the day. Lonely? when she sat 
 alone by the hearth and listened to the wind howling in 
 the chimney and whistling in the latch-hole. Yes, it was
 
 234 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 lonely sometimes when the foam blew against the little 
 window with a soft pat, and Miriel, looking up at the dark 
 panes, saw the curious shapes which the foam flecks took 
 as they fell. At one time it would be a baby's hand that 
 lay there flat and cold ; at another, the long, thin shape of 
 a woman's hand, but all cold, all drowned and dead. It 
 was a foolish fancy of which she was always ashamed, but 
 she rose to pin her apron over the offending window when 
 the cold hands pressed in too persistently. With the morn- 
 ing her courage rose again, and, as she fought her way 
 through the wind to wipe off the flecks of foam, she laughed 
 at her foolish fancies. 
 
 " Have you heard, Miriel, there will be a ' Plygain ' at 
 Glanberi Church on Christmas morning at six o'clock ? 
 Will you come 1 " said lago one day. " 'Twill be dark, of 
 course, but 'twill be old and strange ; the fashion has 
 nearly died out." 
 
 "Yes, indeed, I'll come, lago, and Mali and Stivin, 
 and we'll all come home under the stars to breakfast ! " 
 
 " No, not home," said lago, " 'tis always to Gwernddu 
 people go to breakfast. 'Tis close by, and Jacob is a rich 
 man and hospitable ; and every Christmas he has a grand 
 breakfast for those who attend the ' Plygain.' " 
 
 " But I have not been ' called,' " said Miriel. 
 
 " But I have, and all my 'company,' and you are all my 
 company now." 
 
 Mali and Stivin had indignantly declined lago's offer to 
 take them in his company. 
 
 " Ach y fi ! no ! " said Mali. " Old Devods and Ferems* 
 — I have nothing to do ^vith them ! Coming down to us 
 from the foolish old times, and sticking fast to the church, 
 you see ! Caton pawb ! we are more enlightened in the 
 chapels. Service at six o'clock, indeed ! No, no ! nine 
 o'clock is the time for our chapel service, and early enough 
 these dark mornings." 
 
 * Customs and forms.
 
 Glanbert 235 
 
 "Well, I'm going," said Miriel ; "with lago I will be 
 quite safe, and to Gwernddu to breakfast afterwards." 
 
 " Oh ! there's some sense in that, now. Breakfast at 
 Gwernddu ! That is worth getting up for, I have heard, 
 indeed — fowls and hams and tongues and black puddings 
 and tea and coffee. Yes, go, 'merch i, and a merry Christ- 
 mas to you, as the Saison say." 
 
 So, early on Christmas morning, when darkness yet 
 shrouded sea and shore and windy moor, Miriel dressed 
 hurriedly, nnd joined lago, who, at five o'clock in the 
 morning, was knocking at the door. The stars shone 
 brilliantly, crowding the sky as if to make up for the 
 absence of the moon ; the ground was hard with frost, and 
 a little sprinkling of snow lay on the slope, and whitened 
 the road on which they began their walk. The frost 
 crunched under their feet in the little road pools ; no 
 sound broke the stillness but the boom of the waves, which 
 grew more muffled as they went further inland. Young 
 and full of vigour, the cold, biting air only made the blood 
 course more warmly through their veins. To Miriel especi- 
 ally it was a keen enjoyment, as for so many years the 
 peculiar and urgent nature of her home ties had held her 
 in bondage, and had thwarted and cramped her young life, 
 though she had not been conscious of it ; but now that 
 these ties were relaxed, and she was free to go her own 
 way, and like other girls attend market and fair, and take 
 her part in all the simple enjoyments of a country girl's 
 life, the intense pleasure which these little interludes 
 brought her more than made up to her for the restrictions 
 of her earlier years. 
 
 " Oh ! there's beautiful it is, being out under the stars, 
 lasro," she said, " and to think that in six months the sun 
 will be shining at this time of the morning. There's the 
 bell ringing, and here are some people coming up from that 
 wood." 
 
 A light streamed out through the church door, and
 
 236 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min^ 
 
 enterinc; the little porch, where the people began to arrive 
 in groups, breathing hard and stamping their feet in the 
 doorway, Miriel opened her eyes in astonishment, for, lo ! 
 the little dark church had been transformed into a fairy 
 palace. Candles were lighted in every sconce, at the door 
 of every pew stood a bush of holly decorated with its own 
 scarlet berries mixed with those of the ivy, some of which 
 had been dipped in whiting to imitate snow. Indeed, there 
 was a good sprinkling of whiting over all the decorations, 
 which were simple in the extreme though plentiful. To 
 Miriel it seemed an enchanted scene, and when the village 
 band opened the service with " Awake, my soul, and with 
 the sun," and the whole congregation joiiunl heartily in the 
 familiar strains, her eyes filled with tears, so new and 
 strange and so impressive was the whole scene to her. The 
 church was crowded by worshippers from the surrounding 
 neighbourhood, the yearly " Plygain " at Glanberi and the 
 subsequent breakfast at Gwernddu making it a very 
 popular yearly festivity. The old vicar's cheeks burnt 
 with excitement as he saw the pews so well filled, and 
 he accepted their emptiness on the following Sunday with 
 meek resignation. 
 
 When she had a little overcome her feeling of surprise, 
 Miriel began to look around her, at the red-mantled women 
 with their tall hats ; at their manly companions in coats 
 of mulberry or blue frieze ; all looking so picturesque and 
 " respectable," and the thought crossed her mind that 
 amongst them there were none of such eccentric appearance 
 as Slivin and Mali. 
 
 Glancing round at the crowded congregation, a familiar 
 figure caught her eye. Straight and tall, and broad 
 shouldered, she recognised him at once. It was Doctor 
 Dan, and a strange feeling of pleasure throbbed through her 
 as she saw the well-remembered features, and for the rest 
 of the time she found it difficult to fix her attention upon 
 the sermon. Would she see him to speak to, she wondered ?
 
 (Blanberi 237 
 
 and the recollection that lago was with her sent a hot 
 blush to her face. lie would think — but what did it 
 matter ? It was nothing to her ; it was plain he looked 
 upon her as a troublosomo burden, and she would show 
 him that she could live without his help, and that what he 
 thought was of no consequence to her. As the sermon 
 came to an end, and she saw the tall figure rise, the clear- 
 cut profile marked against the dark hollies, she tossed her 
 head a little impatiently at her own folly, and felt relieved 
 when, making her way with the crowd towards the door, 
 she reached the open air, and could stand a little aside in 
 the darkness to wait for Tago. A rapid change had come 
 over the weather ; the bank of black clouds had ovcirspread 
 the sky, and was beginning to fall in feathery flakes with 
 a persistence that threatened a heavy downfall. And 
 where was lago? Ho had missed her in the crowd, and 
 on reaching the outer air had hurried forward eagerly in 
 search of her, inquiring as he went, " Have you seen Miriel 
 Lloyd, of Doloer 1 A girl in mourning, with a little black 
 wing in her hat 1 " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! she has run on, no doubt, to get out of the 
 snow." 
 
 And he ran on too, but Miriel was still standing by the 
 porch wondering and waiting for him, and beginning to 
 grow a little nervous as the snow fell thicker and faster, 
 and the people passed her more hurriedly. Suddenly a 
 hand was on her arm, a familiar voice was speaking to her, 
 and in a moment all fear was gone, and she felt safe and 
 content. 
 
 " Miriel, what are you doing here ? " he asked. " Are 
 you alone ? " 
 
 " No, no, but I have missed my friends." 
 
 " Who are tliey ? We must look for them." 
 
 "'Tis lago Vaughan," said Miriel, with a flush that the 
 darkness and the snowflakes hid. 
 
 " Well, he must have gone on in search of you, for the
 
 238 ®n tbe Mings of tbe Wiin^ 
 
 church is empty. Come," he said, hesitating a little, "you 
 must not stand here in the snow. Are you going home, or 
 where 1 " 
 
 " No; I am going with lago to breakfast at Gwemddu." 
 
 " Of course ! I am going there too, so I will 
 take you there safely — if you will trust yourself to my 
 guidance." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, and thank you," was all she was able to 
 say, for while she was speaking he was wrapping her up in 
 the storm cloak which he had slipped off his own shoulders, 
 Miriel expostulated, but in vain. 
 
 " Now, I fear that little wing will suffer if I pull the 
 hood up." 
 
 *' I will take off my hat and carry it under my cloak," 
 she said. And, alas ! notwithstanding all her wounded 
 pride, and in spite of all her resolutions, the strong, brown 
 hands that tied the hood under her chin brought a warm 
 glow into her heart and a rich flush to her cheeks. 
 
 " Now we can face the storm, if you are well shod," he 
 said. 
 
 "Is it my shoes ? Yes, they are strong. I am used to 
 the storms, you see." 
 
 " Yes, as much as I am, perhaps." 
 
 They were following the footsteps in the snow that led 
 over a mountain pass to Gwernddu ; there was no one in 
 sight before or behind them, nothing but the grey sky 
 above, and the fast - whitening landscape around them. 
 The wind blew keen from the north, and the wintry world 
 looked bleak and bare, but to Miriel all was warmth and 
 sunshine, while to Doctor Dan the sight of the slender 
 figure that walked beside him awoke within him (if they 
 ever slept) all the strong emotions which he had striven to 
 control, although he could not conquer them. He had not 
 sought the situation, but being in possession of it he could 
 not but rejoice in it, and as he saw that on that unsheltered 
 bryn the wind sometimes thrust Miriel out of the direct
 
 Glanbert 239 
 
 path, he drew her arm within his own, and steadied her 
 uneven steps. 
 
 " I must guard you from harm till I can place you safe 
 with lago Vaughan," he said, and in a moment Miriel'a 
 happiness was clouded and her pride was up in arms. 
 
 " Well, indeed, I am sorry ; I am always giving you 
 trouble, but no doubt Gwernddu is not far now, and then 
 I will be quite safe." And on the pretext of fastening her 
 cloak, she slipped her arm away from his. 
 
 "Sorry, Miriel ! Trouble ! Well, as you say, Gwernddu 
 is not far now, and I may not have the same trouble again, 
 so do not let us talk like strangers ! Tell me about your 
 life, child ; do you find Doloer dull now that you are 
 alone ? " 
 
 "Dull? No," she answered, with a dash of spirit, 
 though, truth to tell, she had hard work to steady her 
 voice. " No, indeed, I am never dull." 
 
 "No, I suppose not. I had forgotten. How are Kit 
 and Brythen?" 
 
 "Oh, well. — In the shed at nights now." 
 
 "Yes, we are facing the winter now, and I expect you 
 are feeling it at Doloer, more than we do at Tregarreg 
 even." 
 
 A pleasant memory softened Miriel's vexation a little, 
 and she asked, almost timidly, "The river, is it just the 
 same in the winter as the summer 1 " 
 
 " No, indeed ! It is not. Yery swollen sometimes, and 
 rushing by as if it was in a hurry to get to the sea, and its 
 foam often stained by the peat bogs. Can you picture 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel, with a little sadness in her voice. 
 
 Perhaps it was this that made him say, "Perhaps you 
 will come and see how it looks in the winter some day, 
 although you did toss your head and say, ' I will never 
 come here again ! ' " He regretted the words as soon as 
 they were spoken.
 
 240 ©n tbe Minos ot tbe Mtn& 
 
 " No," said Miriel. " Winter or summer, I will not come 
 
 again." 
 
 "Well," he answered, "perhaps you are right." And 
 the words fell like lead on her heart, though she had 
 brought them about by her own unreasonable sensitive- 
 
 ness.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 BREAKFAST AT GWERNDDD 
 
 At Gweruddu the house door stood wide open, and Mrs 
 Hughes's portly figure standing at it was well revealed by 
 the glow of light behind her. 
 
 She had stood there, in spite of the falling snow, until 
 all her guests had arrived, to welcome them and to marshal 
 them v\ ith a hand across their shoulders, into the warmly- 
 lit " hall," where the loud talk and laughter, and the 
 clattering of knives and forks, showed the sociable meal 
 had already commenced. 
 
 Doctor Dan was an honoured guest, so the hostess 
 turned at once with special attentions to his companion, 
 and began with busy fingers to unclasp her cloak from top 
 to bottom, talking volubly as she did so, Miriel bending 
 her head to watch the unfastening of clasp after clasp. 
 When the last was undone, and she emerged from its folds, 
 her eyes sparkling and her cheeks glowing with exercise 
 and excitement, the pale golden hair all touzled by the 
 grey hood, Mrs Hughes stood back a few steps to look 
 at her. 
 
 " Well, dir anw'l ! " she said, "what is this pretty creature 
 you have brought to see us 1 Well, in my deed, sir, you 
 have been a long time about it, but I think you have found 
 the right one at last ! " 
 
 Several of the merry company looked round and laughed 
 boisterously, one man rising to give Doctor Dan a resound- 
 Q 241
 
 242 ©n tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 ing slap on the back, while Miriel stood blushing and over- 
 whelmed with cou fusion. To Doctor Dan, too, the situation 
 was tryingly awkward, but, without a shade of outward 
 embarrassment, he raised his hand to stop the hilarious 
 applause, and, with a pleasant laugh, said, " You are 
 mistaken ; this is Miriel Lloyd, of Doloer, and comes in 
 lago Vaughan's company ! They missed each other in the 
 snow." 
 
 At these words an awkward silence fell upon the merry 
 company, for not only had many of them heard the rumour 
 which connected the names of the two young people, but 
 the girl herself was an object of interest and curiosity to 
 them ; for they had heard of her solitary life on the " lone 
 shore," of Matti and G wen's deaths, and of the tragic 
 events at Hafod, which they supposed were now delaying 
 her marriage with lago. All this gossip threw a halo of 
 romance around her, and though the laughter and loud 
 talk was silent for a moment or two, there were many 
 glances of curiosity and interest cast towards Miriel, as 
 Doctor Dan placed a chair for her at the table, and sat 
 down beside her, leaving the chair which had been prepared 
 for him vacant. 
 
 " Miriel," he said, when Mrs Hughes had satisfied her- 
 self that nothing more could be piled on the girl's plate, 
 " child, I am sorry. But you will not think any more of 
 their stupid nonsense ! Will 3'ou 1 " 
 
 " No, no, of course ! " said Miriel, bravely fighting with 
 her shyness and a strange inclination to cry. " They are 
 very merry, whatever, and Mrs Hughes is very kind, but, 
 indeed, I am sorry too ; it was worse for you than for me." 
 
 " Worse for me 1 " he said thoughtfully. " Well, yes, 
 perhaps it was ; " and then he seemed to dismiss the subject 
 from his thoughts, and endeavoured to make her do the 
 same, by pleasant talk, and much information concerning 
 the guests, whom Miriel knew only by name. 
 
 "Do you see that shabby old man with bis back to the
 
 Breakfast at (BwernODu 243 
 
 fire ? To my knowledge he is worth £20,000, and yet he 
 lives more barely than the labourers on his farm. 
 
 "And that pale girl at the corner? She is his niece, 
 and lives with him, and bears with his scrimping, sordid 
 ways in the hopes of inheriting his riches some day ! 
 
 " That little woman with the black bows in her cap ? 
 She is Esther Owen. She has lost all her children, three 
 fine sons, all drowned at sea, and her face has grown 
 sweeter with every sorrow, I think." 
 
 Miriel was getting deeply interested, and beginning to 
 forget her annoyance. She was, at least, no longer fright- 
 ened, but was able to enjoy the scene of true though homely 
 hospitality. Mrs Hughes did not sit down to the table, 
 but, assisted by her daughter and maidservant, waited 
 upon the guests, who did full justice to the profusion of 
 good cheer provided for them. 
 
 A little later, lago arrived, breathless and flurried, but 
 seeing Miriel and Doctor Dan, made his way towards them 
 at once, relieved of all anxiety. 
 
 " Why, Miriel ! " he said, " I have been frightened ! I 
 pictured you lost in the snow and blown about by the 
 wind, and here you are safe and sound, and looking as 
 bright as ever. Indeed, I am very thankful to you," he 
 said, turning to Doctor Dan. " I don't know how we 
 missed each other ! " 
 
 "Well, now I can leave you to find that out," and, 
 rising, he made lago take his place, unceremoniously carry- 
 ing his plate towards the vacant chair which had been 
 prepared for him, returning for a moment to wish Miriel 
 good-bye. 
 
 "I must start almost immediately," he said, "to see a 
 patient living eight miles away over the hills." 
 
 When he was gone, Miriel tried hard to be amiable and 
 pleasant to lago, but it must be confessed that while she 
 applied herself to her breakfast, and took note of the new 
 circumstances and scenes before her — the well-spread table
 
 244 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Mint) 
 
 the ropes of onions, the hams hanging low from the rafters, 
 all in such quantities as she had never seen before, the 
 ruddy glow of the fire that touched the whole scene with 
 crimson — still her thoughts would fly to the bare mountain 
 road, where a solitary gig, bearing two muftled figures, was 
 making its way against the driving wind and snow. 
 
 Mrs Hughes's lamentations were loud and prolonged 
 when she saw Doctor Dan prepare to take his departure. 
 "What ! only a cup of tea? and going out so early with 
 nothing inside you, ach y fi ! " 
 
 " Nothing but platesful of fowl and ham, and buttered 
 toast and cofiee ! " said Doctor Dan, shufiling into the cloak 
 that liad sheltered Miriel. " The snow is over," he said, 
 " so the girl will not want it, but you will lend her a warm 
 shawl, no doubt, if it is very cold." 
 
 " Caton pawb, yes ! " said his hostess. " I'll see she is 
 well wrapped up ; " and he went away, satisfied that Miriel's 
 only diflBculty would lie in choosing between Mrs Hughes's 
 " whittles." After much hand-shaking and promises to 
 "call soon," he made his escape, and, finding Deio and the 
 gig in the stubble yard, was soon on his way to the 
 mountain road which was so vividly present to Miriel's 
 mind. 
 
 At last the hospitable meal was over, and the guests 
 turned away from the table, the women to sit stifi" and 
 sedate in the parlour, where a large fire was drawing out 
 the smell of damp walls and mildewed cushions, for it was 
 never warmed or lighted except on the rare occasions of a 
 " tay-parti " or the Christmas breakfast. The men had 
 turned to the hearth and were tilling the " hall " with 
 clouds of blue smoke from their pipes. Miriel, shy and 
 embarrassed, had followed the women into the parlour, 
 where she was subjected to a cross-examination before 
 which she surrendered entirely. 
 
 " You are living by yourself, "merch i ? " 
 
 "Yea."
 
 Brcal?tast at 6wernt>&u 245 
 
 " Well, well ! But I'm thinking it won't be for 
 long ! » 
 
 " Why, then 1 " asked Miriel. 
 
 " Because you are going to be married to lago Yaughan, 
 they say. Eh 1 " 
 
 " No, I am not, indeed," said Miriel. " I can't think 
 what makes you say such a thing 1 " 
 
 " Oh. Perhaps, indeed ! " and Mrs Jones laughed know- 
 ingly, and patted the back of her hand. Such a denial 
 was utterly useless to refute the report, and Miriel felt it 
 was so, for ignorant as she was of the ways of the world, 
 she yet knew that it was considered the proper thing to 
 deny such a rumour even on the very eve of a marriage. 
 
 " Your two aunts are dead, pwr things ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well, well ! I suppose they left you their money ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Miriel, simply 
 
 " Well, that's one comfort ! Have you a cow 1 " 
 
 "No, only two goats." 
 
 " Goats ! Ach y fi, troublesome things ! " And Miriel, 
 tired out, wondered how she could escape from lier good- 
 natured tormentors. Great was her relief, therefore, when 
 lago appeared at the door and intimated that it was time 
 to go. 
 
 There was another shower of regrets and expostulations 
 from Mrs Hughes before they finally succeeded in reaching 
 the cwrt. 
 
 The snowstorm was nearly over, and the dawn was 
 breaking as they reached the brow of the hill, beyond 
 which stretched the sea and the rugged grey cliffs so 
 familiar to them both. A strong wind from the north met 
 them, biting and cold, with a smell of the spray in it, 
 but to botli it felt like a kindly home greeting, though it 
 roared through the hoary lichen- covered thorn bushes and 
 whistled as it tore by them, carrying with it the powdered 
 snow and the dry beech leaves.
 
 246 ®n tbe Minas of tbe Xiain& 
 
 " How nice the sea wind smells, lago," said Miriel, as 
 they drew near their own "slope." 
 
 "Oh, yes," laughed lago, "and 'tis a fine smeU of fried 
 herrings and wood smoke it is bringing with it to-day. 
 Mali and Stivin are having their breakfast, no doubt." 
 
 " Oh, how the waves are rising ! " exclaimed Miriel, when 
 she caught the first glimpse of the sea. " 'Tis a storm 
 coming, I think, by that roaring ; " and down at Doloer they 
 found Stivin prophesying the same thing. 
 
 " 'Tis coming, 'merch i, I know the sound of it." 
 
 " Well, indeed, I don't mind, if it won't blow the roof 
 ofi"," said Miriel. 
 
 "Well, I will go," said lago, "and leave you to tell all 
 about the ' Plygain,' " and, entering, she found all her work 
 done by Mali and a bright fire lighting up the old room. 
 
 Mali listened with disapprobation to her glowing account 
 of the church with its lights, its music, its decorations. 
 " Red, black and white berries in bunches, Mali fach, 
 there's pretty they were ! and something like snow on the 
 BJiining green loaves." 
 
 " Humph ! Hadn't they plenty of snow outside without 
 having it inside 1 " 
 
 " Well, it was very pretty, whatever. And the breakfast 
 at Gwernddu ! Enough for two harvest suppers." 
 
 " Was there bloom pudding 1 " 
 
 " No, 'twas not dinner, you see." 
 
 Stivin was much interested in the account of the break- 
 fast, though he made several excursions into the garden 
 during its recital to watch the storm. 
 
 "Yes, 'tis coming," he said; "to-night it will be upon 
 us, no doubt." 
 
 As the day wore on the wind increased in violence. A 
 dark mist brooded over the sea, the waves fell thundering 
 on the beach, and Miriel closed her door against the sights 
 and sounds without. 
 
 "When the short afternoon closed in and the darkness
 
 BreaF?fast at Gwern^^u 247 
 
 deepened she sat once more on the hearth in her favourite 
 attitude, nursing her chin in her palm, and if her mind 
 returned again to the events of the day, how could she help 
 it 1 while the burning logs crackled and the wind roared in 
 the chimney ! and though she sighed at one moment, the 
 next she was smiling as she gazed into the glowing fire. 
 She was interrupted by Mali and Stivin, who came again 
 to hear a little more about the " Plygain " and the wonder- 
 ful breakfast that followed it. 
 
 "This is the first Christmas Day that I can remember," 
 said Miriel. " Nothing has ever happened before to mark 
 it from any other day that I can recollect, whatever ; but, 
 indeed, to-day has been a beautiful day." 
 
 " Well, well," said Mali. " You call wind and snow and 
 stormy waves a beautiful day ? Ach y fi ! no, I don't agree 
 with you ; but 'tis no wonder you don't remember other 
 Christmas Days, because, see you, we're not like the 
 Saison, who mark it with roasted ox meat and bloom 
 pudding. 'Tis no wonder they rememher it. But we go to 
 chapel on Christmas Day, and say our ' Pwnc ' and come 
 home to our cawl." 
 
 "And so 'tis no wonder we forget it," said Miriel, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Well, I'd rather have a good bowl of cawl than any 
 roast in the world," said Stivin ; " but a bit of ox meat 
 dried under the roof is good, no doubt, to flavour the cawl, 
 and that's what we had to-day, Mali and I. Jar i, the 
 foam is flying up the slope like a flock of sheep ! " he added, 
 peeping out through the window. 
 
 " Yes, I must make a blind for the side window," said 
 Miriel. " I don't like to see it lying on the panes." 
 
 "Didn't I ever tell you about Beni Tygraig's blind?" 
 asked Stivin, and he stirred up the logs and made sure the 
 bolt was safe before he began his yarn. 
 
 " Well, 'tis as true as the sun is shining, because I have 
 seen him many times and been in his house. 'Twas the
 
 248 ®n tbe Mtncis ot tbe Min& 
 
 last house in the village, see you, and the little window of 
 the penisha very near the edge of the cliff — and there he 
 lived with his mother, pwr thing ! She was doting upon 
 him, but he was a hard, cruel man, and I believe if they'd 
 opened him and looked for his heart they would find 'twas 
 made of stone, or nothing softer than leather, whatever. 
 
 " Well, all of a sudden he began to go courting to Nell 
 Rhydafon, and how she ever took up with him I don't 
 know ; but there ! there's never a brute of a man but some 
 fool of a woman is willing to marry him. And Neli agreed, 
 and they were married ; but before his wedding day he 
 turned out his pwr old mother, and she went to a little 
 hut on the mountain about a mile from the village. 
 'Stands to reason,' says he — and that was his favourite 
 word — 'stands to reason! one woman is enough in a 
 house, and that must be the wife ! ' So poor old Malen 
 went to live by herself, and Beni and Neli lived in Tygraig. 
 She was a nice, kind woman, fat and jolly when she married 
 him, but before long she began to fade away, and in less 
 than two years she was dead ! 
 
 " Everybody said he had killed her with his hard ways 
 as surely as if he had cut her throat. 
 
 "'Stands to reason,' he would say to her, 'thee can't 
 want new shoes yet ! Didn't thee have two pairs and a 
 pair of does when we married 1 ' and when she was having 
 her tea, 'Woman,' he would say, 'thou art wasteful! 
 thou can't want sugar and milk in thy tea. Stands to 
 reason ! ' 
 
 "Well, when she was dead and laid out in her coffin, 
 and he sitting alone over the fire in the penisha, a sudden 
 thought came into his head, and he went in his stocking 
 feet into the penisha where she was lying, quiet enough, 
 pwr thing ! My mother had given two of her own 
 candles to place at her head, for he wouldn't give her one; 
 so he stood there and looked at her, and the candle light 
 shone on her wedding-ring, and the gold glittered, and a
 
 3BreaI?ta5t at Gwcrn&&u 249 
 
 spark came in his greedy eye, and he took hold of her 
 cold hand. "Twould be wasteful to leave this on her 
 finger,' he said, ''twill be no use to her in the grave, 
 stands to reason,' he says, and with that he began to 
 draw off the ring, but jar i ! her finger was swollen, and it 
 would not come off. But the more it wouldn't come, the 
 more he wanted it, so he took out his penknithe and cut 
 her finger a little, till it slipped off easily, and then he 
 went back to the penisha and sat by the fire, and next day 
 they closed the coffin and she was buried, and Beni was 
 alone in the house. 
 
 "Well, 'twas stormy weather at the time, and well I 
 remember it too, the wind and the waves so loud, and the 
 foam flying all over the village. On the night after the 
 funeral Beni was busy making does — did I tell you he was 
 a clocswr 1 * There was no blind over the window then, 
 and everything was very silent, only the lumps of foam 
 falling on the window — pat pat — and Beni was thinking 
 how wise he had been to keep the ring from the grave. 
 'Why, I might want to be married again some day,' says 
 he to himself, 'and 'twould be wasteful to buy another 
 wedding-ring, stands to reason ! Not but Neli was very 
 good-natured, pwr thing ! but wasteful, very wasteful ! ' 
 
 ''Pat, came a lump of foam on the window. Beni 
 looked up from his work, and there it was, a large lump 
 exactly like a dead hand, exactly like Neli's hand had 
 looked in the coffin. Beni's heart leapt up in his breast 
 with fear (though it was a stone heart), and he bent over the 
 wooden shoe he was making, and tried to forget the foam 
 on the window, but he coulduH help looking up sometimes, 
 and there it was, the dead, white hand as plain as ever, 
 and Beni shook in his own does, and went to bed and 
 drew the bedclothes over his head. But 'twas no use, 
 whenever the wind blew in from the sea, Beni was in 
 terror and fright, and then it was that he himself fell sick, 
 * A woodej} shoe maker.
 
 2 50 ©n tbe Minas of tbe Mln^ 
 
 and wasted away as Neli had done. He never complained, 
 but got angry if anyone noticed how sick he was. He 
 seemed to have a fright upon him, always starting and 
 looking over his shoulder as if he could see a spirit, 
 and if my mother had not seen her die, everyone would 
 have thought he had murdered pwr Neli. "Well, before 
 six months were over he began to look around him for a 
 second wife. ' Stands to reason ! ' says he, ' a man can't 
 live alone on the edge of a cliff. 'Tis shocking lonely in 
 the winter,' says he, and, tan i marw ! he found another 
 fool to marry him. 
 
 " But stop a bit ! she was a shrew, his second wife, and 
 fit to meet him ; and thinner and thinner he grew, never 
 telling anyone what was the matter with him. 
 
 *' Well, let me tell you, when he married again, he was 
 glad enough to put Neli's ring on Nani's finger, and get rid 
 of it himself, and he thought he would no longer be plagued 
 by the foam from the sea. 
 
 " The first little job he gave his new wife to do was to 
 put up a blind on the little window that looked over 
 the bay. 
 
 " One night in the autumn, late, came a storm from the 
 north, and 'Pull down the blind,' says Beni, 'and don't 
 pull it up till the storm is over,' and she went to do his 
 bidding when pat I came a lump of foam on the window. 
 
 " * Caton pawb ! there's like a hand it is there on the 
 glass,' says Nani. 
 
 " ' No more like a hand than a foot,' says he, but 
 trembling like a leaf he was. 
 
 " ' In my deed, it is then ; 'tis a woman's left hand, and 
 oh, mawredd anw'l ! there is a ring of blood round her 
 third finger, where her wedding-ring ought to be.' 
 
 " Beni looked, and there it was sure enough, and he ran 
 away with a scream like a woman's and went to bed and 
 pulled the clothes over him again. 
 
 "Now, Nani was a spirited woman, as T told you; so,
 
 36reaftfast at (5wern^^u 251 
 
 says she to herself, ' The man must be a fool to be frightened 
 at a lump of foam. I'll soon get rid of that.' So she fetched 
 a cloth and determined to wipe the foam from the window. 
 Well, she opened the window to push her hand through, 
 when, whist ! came a gust of wind, and blew the foam 
 hand flat on to her own, and she felt the cold, dead hand 
 laid on hers. 
 
 "Then she screamed, and flung oS" the uncanny thing, 
 and it fell on the window-seat ; but with it she had flung 
 off her wedding-ring, and there it lay on the window-seat 
 under the foam hand, and there she stood staring at it. 
 Gradually it melted away, bubble by bubble, and when the 
 last bubble was gone there was nothing under it. The 
 ring was gone ! So Nell had come for her ring, and had 
 got it, see you ! 
 
 "Beni never got over that, but soon went about with 
 his head tied up,* and, tan i marw ! he died and was 
 buried, but Nani lived on well and happy, and took his old 
 mother to live with her. No blame to her, she was not a 
 bad sort, see you." 
 
 "Most like 'tis all true," said Mali, "for I've heard it 
 many times before, but what business hadst to tell it 
 to-night when the lo's fach will be here by herself, and 
 afraid of her shadow because of the storm ? " but Miriel's 
 merry laugh reassured the abashed Stivin. 
 
 «No — no, Stivin, I am afraid of nothing, with you so 
 near and snoring so loud, I'm never afraid." 
 
 "That's thy good sense, 'merch i," said Mali, "and no 
 thanks to this dunderhead. But come, Stivin, 'tis time to 
 go to bed " ; and obediently the burly man rose to follow 
 her. 
 
 When they were gone Miriel put out her light, and sat 
 
 down to dream a little longer before retiring to rest. A 
 
 pat on the window-pane startled her, a lump of foam 
 
 blown against it by the strong north wind, another and 
 
 * A peasant's cure for all ailments.
 
 252 ®n tbe Mings of tbe Min& 
 
 another, and she looked towards them, recalling Stivin's 
 weird story. Then she fell to dreaming again, in the fire- 
 light, and listening to the roar of the wind in the chimney, 
 and to much more than the sound of the wind, for on its 
 wings it seemed to bring from the stormy north all kinds 
 of mysterious sounds that came to her out of the turbulent 
 elements and hor own imagination, not untinged by the 
 tales with which Stivin had often wiled the wintry hours 
 away. Now it was the crunching destruction of some ice- 
 bound ship ; there were the cries of the despairing crew ! 
 Now it was the strains of martial music that came with its 
 thunder, and then came the wailing of a woman lost upon 
 Bome lonely moor, and now it was her own name, "Miriel ! 
 Miriel ! " 
 
 Even before Mali and Stivin's departure, she had fancied 
 that she heard her name in the storm-blast, and now there 
 it was again coming down the big chimney — " Miriel ! 
 Miriel ! " She started to her feet, and looked towards the 
 window, as another lumi) of foam flew against it like a 
 storm-bird. Beneath it came another shape, so like a 
 human hand that she hid her face in affright. Again she 
 ventured to look, and surely it moved, the fingers tapping 
 softly on the pane, while again came the wailing cry of 
 " Miriel ! Miriel ! " Ashamed of her nervous fears, she 
 approached the window, and looking closely at the white 
 hand which still tapped softly, she felt suddenly reassured, 
 for no doubt it was a living hand, and not the spectral form 
 which had visited Beni Pengraig. 
 
 Miriel was not wanting in courage where the impalpable 
 and unseen did not intrude, and scarcely a moment had 
 elapsed before she was running through the porch and 
 struggling through the high wind, which came against her 
 like a solid wall, as she reached the round of the 
 garden hedge. She clutched at the thorn stumps, and 
 bravely fought her way round to where the side windows 
 looked out on the bay, only just in time to see a flutter-
 
 3Breal?tast at ©wern&&u 253 
 
 ing grey figure escape through the rushes to the dark 
 shore. 
 
 Frightened and astonished, she returned to the penisha, 
 where the dying logs still smouldered on the hearth. 
 Instinctively she drew them together, and threw on a 
 fresh supply, before she once more placed herself near the 
 window, but deep in the shadow where she could not be 
 seen. 
 
 Louder and louder the wind howled in the chimney, 
 faster and faster gathered the scudding foam on the 
 window, and before many minutes the hand, the living 
 hand, again crept up the pane, and tapped a little louder, 
 as if with more confidence than before. 
 
 In a moment she had run once more round the garden 
 hedge, and once more she saw the grey figure retire a yard 
 or two into the darkness. 
 
 "Miriel !" called the same voice that she had heard on 
 the wind, and, making a sudden raid into the darkness, 
 she grasped a wet, sodden form, that drew away from her 
 a little. 
 
 "Who is it that is calling me?" said Miriel. "No, I 
 will not let you go ; this wind and storm is not fit for any- 
 one to be out in. Come to the house and to the tire. Pwr 
 thing, you are shivering, and no wonder ! " and she drew 
 her now half-reluctant, half-willing captive into the house, 
 and, bolting the door, stirred up the fire till the leaping 
 flames lit up the whole room. 
 
 When by their light she recognised the pale, trembling 
 figure she had rescued from the storm, astonishment and 
 horror kept her silent for a moment. 
 
 " Betta ! " she exclaimed at last. " What does it mean ? 
 Where is PhiU" 
 
 But at these words the shivering woman hid her face in 
 her hands, and sobbed bitterly. 
 
 Miriel, seeing this, restrained her curiosity, and, drawing 
 her towards the fire, clasped her arms round her neck, and.
 
 2 54 ®n tbe Minas oX tbe Min& 
 
 Betta doing likewise, the two girls stood for a moment in 
 a close embrace, Betta hiding her face on Miriel's shoulder 
 and crying as though her heart were breaking. 
 
 "Come!" said the latter at last, quietly unclasping 
 Betta's arms. "Come ! the first thing to do is to put on 
 dry clothes. I will put them all ready while you warm 
 yourself at the fire." 
 
 Returning to the living-room in a few moments, she 
 found Betta standing in a little pool of water which had 
 streamed from her sodden garments, and twisting the wet 
 out of the coils of her thick black hair. 
 
 " Now, 'merch i, go and put on the dry clothes, while I 
 get a hot cup of tea ready for you." 
 
 The brisk tones and warm welcome only seemed further 
 to unlock the store of sorrow in the rescued wanderer's 
 heart, for, as she passed into the inner room, she still 
 sobbed and moaned, " Oh, Dire ! Oh, Dire ! " 
 
 At last, returning dressed in Miriel's clothes, her liair 
 still unbound (for it was too wet to coil), she looked as she 
 came into the light the mere shadow of her former self, and 
 Miriel impulsively clasped her again in a warm embrace. 
 " Oh, my little friend ! " she said, placing her in the warmest 
 corner of the hearth, and, drawing the table towards her, 
 she sat down herself to preside at it. " 'Twill be supper 
 for me," she said, "because Stivin and Mali stayed here so 
 late, that, indeed, I am hungry ; " and, pretending to eat 
 herself with good appetite, she pressed the simple food 
 upon her unexpected guest. 
 
 Betta ate hungrily, and, while she did so, Miriel took 
 note of the terrible change in her appearance. Her own 
 eyes overflowed with tears while she watched her, but, 
 resolutely drying them, she applied herself assiduously to 
 cheer and comfort Betta. 
 
 " I am eating so much, Miriel ! I am ashamed, but 'tis 
 hungry I am. I never thought in my life to want for food, 
 but I have the last two days. I have walked from Stran-
 
 JSreafttast at (Bwcrnt>&u 255 
 
 port all the way, and, oh, Miriel ! ' a heavy heart makes a 
 heavy foot.'" 
 
 " From Stranport ! 'Tis forty miles ; and you so weak ! " 
 
 " Yes, but never mind now, 'tis past, and 'tis nothing to 
 the sorrow that is here ! " and she pressed her hands on her 
 bosom. " 'Tis that, Miriel, that is wearing me out, that is 
 killing me ! " 
 
 " Betta fach ! I don't know yet what is your trouble, 
 but one thing I know, and tliat is that there is no trouble 
 so heavy but God can lighten it." 
 
 "Not my trouble, whatever!" said Betta. "You are 
 very kind, Miriel, and you are not asking me again, 'Where 
 is Phil 1 ' Well, then, I will tell you. He has sailed away 
 and left me by myself, and I have heard ' na sine na son ' 
 of him ; from himself, I mean, for I have heard from others 
 where he is. He is sailing up by the warm countries to 
 Italy and France, and much farther; to places where it 
 is still warm and sunny weather, and he is going much 
 farther again to a place called Monte Video, for a cargo of 
 fruit." 
 
 " But sailors, Betta ! they have to leave their wives 
 behind them. Only sometimes they are allowed to take a 
 friend with them." 
 
 " I know that, and I would not mind if he had not gone 
 away without telling me. 'Tis that tliat is killing me. 
 And, worse than all, though he would not take me, he has 
 got Jinny Ffowkes with him." 
 
 " Jinny Ffowkes 1 " 
 
 " Yes ; and her father and her aunt ! " And leaning her 
 head against the back of the settle, she seemed to fall into 
 a reverie of sad thoughts, from which she presently awoke, 
 starting to her feet, and crying, " Don't leave me, Miriel ! 
 I am at the end of my courage." 
 
 " No, no, 'merch i, I will not leave you ; you are safe here 
 at Doloer, and there's glad I am to have you. Now, turn 
 to the fire ; are you warm and dry 1 "
 
 256 ©n tbe mims of tbe m\U\^ 
 
 " Yes, warm and comfortable as I never expected to be 
 again; and there's nice everything looks here. 'Tis like 
 coming home, only I have no home ! " 
 
 "Yes, you have a home here indeed." 
 
 Betta shook her head with a weary smile. 
 
 "Let us go to bed now and rest." 
 
 "No, no," said Betta. "I want to tell you everything 
 first ; but will Mali or Stivin hear me 1 " 
 
 " No, there is no one to hear you ; they are asleep at 
 Hafod, and Mali and Stivin are asleep. 'Tis twelve o'clock, 
 the wind is going down, the snow is falling fast, and 'tis as 
 if there was no one in the world but you and uie, Betta, so 
 tell me your story if you like, but, if you like better, keep 
 it till to-morrow." 
 
 "No, I will tell you everything now, for we have been 
 like sisters, Miriel, until — until the Sea Gull came home. 
 And sitting there she told her story, sometimes interruptAjd 
 by a shower of tears, Miriel sitting beside her on her low 
 stool, holding her hand, and sometimes pressing it in silent 
 sympathy. 
 
 Outside, the wind was rapidly sinking, and in the dark- 
 ness the snow was falling fast ; the thundering of the 
 waves upon the shore reached them, but muflfled by the 
 snow. The old clock ticked in the corner, Kit and Brythen 
 moved in their shed outside the window, the soft pats of 
 the snowflakes fell on the window-panes, and the dropping 
 wind still sighed in the chimney.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 B Etta's story 
 
 •'Do you remember," said Betta, "the evening before the 
 Sea Gull sailed from the bay, when lago and poor Uncle Sil 
 went with Phil in the car to Porthlidan ? Well, I saw them 
 go with a heart as light as a feather, for I had promised 
 Phil to meet him on the point beyond the harbour at ten 
 o'clock ; he would be there, he said, with a boat to scull me 
 back to the Sea Gull. Uncle Sil was tired when he came 
 back, and went to bed at once, and before ten I was on the 
 road, running my best to Porthlidan. Phil had sent my 
 box by a cart the night before ; we carried it out together 
 when they were all asleep, and there's happy I was ! though 
 indeed, Miriel, I often looked down at Doloer and 
 wondered how would I be without ever a sight of your grey 
 eyes nor a sound of your voice. It was the only sorrow in 
 my heart then, but och-i ! there have been plenty since." 
 
 " Did you meet Stivin and Mali on the road ? " asked 
 Miriel. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; they were coming home from Jinny fach 
 fach's tea-party. I hid in the hedge till they had passed, 
 and then I ran as fast as I could to bo at the point by ten. 
 Phil was there and rowed me back to the Sea Gull, and he 
 made a bed for me on the deck, with a sail pitched over- 
 head like a gipsy tent, but I couldn't sleep much so excited 
 I was, and before the dawn I was up and dressed and 
 R 257
 
 258 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 standing with Phil to watch the flags and the streamers at 
 Hafod. I saw your blue scarf, Miriel, and the tears came 
 into my eyes, but Phil laughed and scolded me, and said 
 we would soon be back again, and that Uncle Sil would 
 forgive us when he knew we were safely married, and all 
 would be right again. And then the wind changed, and we 
 didn't get to Liverpool next day till late in the evening, 
 too late to be married as he had promised, and I was very 
 nervous and frightened, and said I would rather go back to 
 Hafod than sail another day with him without being 
 married, and then for the first time I saw that Phil could 
 look cross, and he said, ' They would never receive thee at 
 Hafod, and as for Miriel Lloyd she would never look at 
 thee ! But of course, if thou pleasest ! If thou art prefer- 
 ing them to me ! ' — and then I cried, and he wiped my tears 
 away, and kissed me, and we were married next day, and 
 I was the happiest girl in the world. And then in three 
 days we sailed to Barcelona in Spain, and from there all 
 the way to a place they call Oran, oh ! a long way oflF, 
 where I fancy he is gone again now. Well, in five weeks 
 we were back again in Liverpool, and, oh ! 'tis a place I 
 wish I had never seen ; but Phil liked it, yes, he was happy 
 and merry again as soon as we landed there, though some- 
 times on board the Sea Gull he was impatient and cross ; 
 but I forgave him everything because I loved him so much! 
 He took lodgings with a very nice woman — Mrs Roberts 
 was her name — from North Wales, and I will never forget 
 her kindness to me." 
 
 Miriel threw a fresh log on the fire and the flames leaped 
 up, lighting up the old rafters and the clock in the corner, 
 which solemnly struck one. 
 
 " And now to the bad part that's coming ! " continued 
 Betta. "Who would think that so much happiness could 
 turn to dust and ashes 1 Could you think it, Miriel 1 " 
 
 "Well," said Miriel, looking into the fire, "T don't 
 think it would be bo much happiness for me if a man
 
 Betta's Stor^ 259 
 
 was cross and impatient with me sometimes, it wouldn't 
 take much more to awake me from my dream of 
 happiness ! " 
 
 " Well, but then 'tis so different with you, Miriel, you 
 don't know what it is to love a man as I loved Phil, and 
 you don't know what it is to hate as I hate him now ! " 
 Her black eyes flashed and her cheeks grew red with 
 excitement, and she looked more like the Betta of old than 
 when she began her story. 
 
 *' 'Twas when we arrived in Liverpool the second time we 
 heard of poor Uncle Sil's death — a letter from lago was 
 waiting for Phil in the owners' office, and a bitter, hard 
 letter it was. Oh, Miriel, it was a blow to my happiness, 
 the beginning of my troubles ; and Phil, too, was feeling it 
 very much for a day or two ; but you know him ! it would 
 be impossible to dash his spirit for long. There is nothing 
 in the world that can make him serious. In a few days he 
 had cast off his sorrow and was as merry as ever again. 
 He had plenty of money, and he took me about at first and 
 showed me the grand sights of the town ; but before long I 
 saw a change in him, ho began to neglect me, and to leave 
 me at home by myself. He didn't come home till late at 
 night, sometimes not at all for a day or two, and 'twas 
 always business, business was the excuse, and the owners 
 and the docks, and I don't know what would I do if it 
 wasn't for Mrs Roberts and her little daughter ! Well, you 
 know, Miriel, my temper is quick and sharp like a flame, 
 and one day I spoke out very sharp, with some hot words, 
 when he said as usual * Perhaps I won't be home till late. 
 He swore a deep oath, and 'I don't know what did I 
 hamper myself with you for,' he said, and he banged the 
 door shocking as he went out. When Mrs Roberts came 
 in I was crying, and she tried to comfort me, pwr thing ! 
 and little Mary, her daughter, came in with a letter, ' 'Tis 
 Captain Vaughan's,' she said ; ' he dropped it in the 
 passage.' I took it and read it, Miriel. It was only a few
 
 26o ®n tbe Mings ot tbe MlnD 
 
 words and it was English, but I remember it, every word. 
 It was : — 
 
 " ' Dear Phil, — Dad is expecting you to dinner to-night, 
 and will you come with us to Neville Jones's concert after- 
 wards? — Your affectionate cousin, Jinny.' 
 
 "The address was on the top, 10 Ransome Square. 
 
 " All that day I waited and waited, because there was 
 no date on the letter, so I didn't know when Phil had had 
 it, but when night came and no sign of him I knew where 
 he was, and miserable and angry I was ! So miserable that 
 I cried myself ill, and so angry that I bit the pillow that 
 kind Mrs Roberts put under my head. In my hot temper 
 I don't know indeed what did I say to Phil, when he came 
 home at last about one in the morning, but he was very 
 angry whatever ! I remember I said I supposed he had 
 never told his fine cousin that he was a married man, and 
 his answer was ' Yes, I have, and if it wasn't for thy 
 temper I would have taken thee there with me. But she 
 wants to see thee whatever, so try to look thy best, and 
 brush up thine English, and put on the black silk gown I 
 gave thee and I'll take thee to-morrow.' 
 
 ** I said I wouldn't go to be shown to her, but I went after 
 all, Miriel, and she shook hands with me, with her small 
 cold hand all covered with rings, and her eyes looking all 
 over me, and Phil quite red in the face, and I could see he 
 was ashamed of me. 
 
 "They had had their supper (their dinner they called it, 
 that time of night, ach y fi) and Mr Ffowkes was very kind 
 to me. I don't think he would have been willing for that 
 grand match that poor Uncle Sil had set his heart upon. 
 But the aunt who lived with them ! I couldn't bear her." 
 
 "Well, they didn't take much notice of me, and Phil 
 and his cousin were joking and laughing together all the 
 time, and my blood was boiling. Whenever I said any-
 
 Betta's Storp 261 
 
 thing I could see her smiling at her aunt, and Phil blush- 
 ing up to his hair. Very like you she was, Miriel, only not 
 so pretty, not half so pretty. And then she went to sing, 
 Phil standing by her all the time. 
 
 " Her singing was shocking bad, too ; indeed, if I had the 
 heart, I could laugh at her." 
 
 " ' Can your wife sing ? ' says she, looking at me in the 
 corner of her eye. 
 
 " ' Oh,' says Phil, ' only Welsh songs and hymns.' 
 
 " ' Well, let's have one of them,' says she. ' I'll try not 
 to laugh at the Welsh.' 
 
 "'No,' I said, tossing my head as proud as she, *I 
 would not be ashamed to sing before anyone in this room, 
 but I won't trouble you not to laugh at my Welsh.' Oh, I 
 was angry with myself, Miriel, that I lost my temper, but 
 I couldn't help it ! " 
 
 "I wish, for all that," said Miriel, " that she had heard 
 you singing ' Aderyn Pur.' " 
 
 "I was too unhappy to sing; my heart was bursting 
 with pain and anger. 
 
 " ' Well,' she said, ' you sing, Phil ! You have a lovely 
 voice.' So he sang, she playing the piano with him — and 
 what should he sing but Gwen's old song, ' On the wings 
 of the wind he is coming to me ! ' Oh, Miriel, the blood 
 rushed from my heart to my head ; I could hear the sound 
 of the sea in my ears, and I could see this old room as 
 plain as I do now, all of us sitting round the fire and sing- 
 ing together, and I thinking of Phil all the time, and when 
 he came to those words, ' Out of the west, where the wind 
 blows free, my sailor is sailing home ! ' oh, I could not 
 bear more." 
 
 " No, indeed," said Miriel, " I can understand that, 
 Betta f ach ; we can bear our sorrows while we can bury 
 them away in own hearts, but music comes and unlocks the 
 doors, and calls them out by name, and we cannot bear 
 them any longer."
 
 262 ®n tbe TMlinas of tbe xmn^ 
 
 " No, that's what I felt, and I jumped to my feet and 
 said to the auut, ' I must go. It is making me think too 
 much of home and Uncle Sil.' Phil was too much taken 
 up with the singing to notice me, so I slipped to the door, 
 and tlie aunt followed me, looking very cross." 
 
 " * You will wait for your husband,' says she ; but I 
 wouldn't listen to her. I found the front door, and out to 
 the street I went, and I could hear Phil's voice through 
 the window singing, ' Sailing, sailing over the salt sea 
 foam,' and I ran away from it, the tears blinding my eyes. 
 I did not know the way, but I didn't care if only I could 
 get away from th;it song. 
 
 "No one noticed me in that grand street, until at last I 
 asked someone to show me the way to Stopwold, and then 
 a man was walking behind me, and saw me crying, so he 
 put his hand on my arm. 
 
 " ' What's the matter, 'merch i ? ' said he, and by that 
 I knew he was from my own country, because there are 
 a great many Welsh in that part of the town, so I felt 
 quite safe with him, and bit by bit I told him some of 
 my troubles. 
 
 " ' And you want to go home to Cardiganshire ? ' says he. 
 ' Well, 'merch i, take my advice and make it up with your 
 husband, and ask him to let you go home ; 'tis better than 
 a strange town for a young woman,' he said. ' I'll take you 
 safe to your lodgings, and to-morrow I'll be sailing for 
 Stranport, and you can come aboard if you can put up 
 with our rough ways,' says he ; so I took his advice, Miriel, 
 and made up niy mind to try once more. It was so dread- 
 ful to think it had come to this between Phil and me ! so 
 I met him with a smiling face that night. Oh ! 'twas very 
 late, but for every frown I only gave him kind words, and 
 he was more like the Phil that used to be, and I thought 
 the old happy time was coming over again, and I was 
 full of joy and gladness, moulding my words, and my face, 
 and my very spirit, to please him ; but one day he said, —
 
 Betta's Storg 263 
 
 " ' I will be sailing next week, Betta.' And there's glad I 
 was to think we would get away from Liverpool, the bad 
 old town, with its thick air and its lamps and its cruel 
 people ! 
 
 " ' Oh, I am glad ! ' I said. ' And where will we be going, 
 Phil 1 ' 
 
 " * We ! ' he said. ' Not thee, child ; I can't take thee 
 again. The owners would not be willing. Besides, I am 
 going to Russia and the North, and what would thou do 
 there in the ice and snow 1 For the winter is coming on 
 quick now." 
 
 *' My heart sank down, and a sharp word was on my 
 tongue, but I curbed it, Miriel, and I answered him 
 quite quiet, ' And what will I do while thee'st away, 
 Phil 1 ' 
 
 " ' Do ? ' he said. ' Why, stop here with Mrs Roberts. 
 Thou hast every comfort, and if thou want'st more money 
 go to the owners' office, they have two months of my pay 
 untouched." And he went out whistling, quite happy, 
 while I spent my day crying in that dark old parlour. 
 
 " Well, the week passed by, and he wished me good-bye 
 as light-hearted as ever. ' Fforwel, 'merch i ! ' he said, ' I'll 
 be back in a fortnight or three weeks.' 
 
 " He would not let me go to the docks to see him sailing. 
 • No, no,' he said, ' I don't want to be bothered with 
 women there. Fforwel, 'merch i, and try and find thy 
 roses and thy smiles before I come back, for, in my deed, 
 thou'st growing as white and as dull as any of these 
 Liverpool women ! Come, cheer up ! and fforwel ! ' 
 
 " Oh, Miriel, I looked after him going as if I was look- 
 ing at his funeral, so altered he was, and so heavy my 
 heart was ! Mrs Roberts came in and tried to comfort 
 me and to scold me. ' Caton Pawb ! ' she said, ' 'twill 
 never do for a sailor's wife to cry like this ! They must 
 learn to be brave and fearless like their husbands.' So I 
 tried for a bit to be brave and patient, but more and more
 
 264 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Mint) 
 
 I was thinking of Jinny Ffowkes and that night when 
 Phil took me there and she seemed more to him than I 
 was ; and when I thought of her smiles, and her looks at 
 Phil, and the many hours he had left me alone to spend 
 them with her (I was sure in my heart), oh ! then the blood 
 boiled in my veins ! and I made up my mind to go to her 
 and tell her what a wicked woman she was to come be- 
 tween me and my husband. 
 
 " So one day I went. It was a cold grey day, and the 
 snow was falling a little, but I didn't care. I went to the 
 house and I rang the bell, and a servant opened the door. 
 
 " ' I want to see Miss Ffowkes,' I said. 
 
 " ' You can't see her, she's not at home,' she said. 
 
 " ' Where is she then 1 ' I asked, for I was determined to 
 see her, so angry I was, and my heart hot with pain and 
 sorrow. 
 
 " ' She's gone abroad with Mr Ffowkes and her aunt. 
 They're gone in Captain Vaughan's ship a trip up the 
 Mediterranean ; didn't you know, ma'am ? ' 
 
 " Oh, Miriel ! The cry in my heart was, ' Mother ! 
 mother ! ' though she died when I was twelve years old. 
 
 " A dark cloud seemed before my eyes, and I thought 
 I would faint. The girl offered me a chair, but I turned 
 away, and out in the street I was better, and I turned 
 towards the docks and found the owners' office, and I 
 went in quite fearless and bold — I, Miriel, who was only 
 used to the cows and the fields and the seashore ! — and 
 ' Can you tell me,' I said, ' where is Captain Philip 
 Vaughan ? ' 
 
 " ' He has sailed up the Mediterranean to Oran ; one of 
 the owners is with him,' they said. 
 
 " ' Mr Ffowkes t ' I said. 
 
 " 'Yes, and his sister and daughter,' 
 
 " ' When will he be back ? ' I said. 
 
 " 'In about three months, for he is going further from 
 there.'
 
 Betta's Stori^ 265 
 
 " I didn't wait to hear more, but I went straight to the 
 side of the water. All the love that I had in my heart 
 turned to bitter hatred, and for a short time I think I was 
 mad. I wanted to throw myself into the water ! To 
 think he was tired of me ! To think how he had cheated 
 me, saying, ' What would you do in the ice and snow, 
 'merch i 1 ' and he all the time meaning to go to the warm 
 countries with Jinny Ffowkes for company, and leaving 
 me at home to break my heart if I liked ! 
 
 " ' But no ! ' I said to myself, ' I will not do a wicked 
 thing and drown myself, but I will tear him out of my 
 heart, and I dragged my wedding-ring off my finger and 
 threw it into the deep, dirty water in the docks, and there 
 it is now. 
 
 " Then I was weak and worn out, and I turned round to 
 go back to my lodgings, when who should I see but Captain 
 Jones, who had advised me to make up my quarrel with 
 my husband. He was standing there with his hands in his 
 pockets, and I went straight up to him. ' Captain Jones,' 
 I said, ' when are you sailing for Wales t ' 
 
 " ' Sailing for Wales 1 ' says he, looking so strange at me. 
 * Who are you t ' 
 
 " ' I am Betta Jones,' I said, ' and I want to come with 
 you.' (I wouldn't call myself Betta Vaughan !) 'You 
 said once you would take me to Stranport with you.' 
 
 " ' Caton pawb ! I didn't know you ! What is the matter, 
 'merch i fach i ? you are looking so white, and such black 
 marks under your eyes ! I'm afraid you didn't take my 
 advice and make it up with your husband,' says he. 
 
 "'No,' I said, 'and I didn't say any more, because, although 
 I was hating him so much that I wouldn't call myself by 
 his name, yet I didn't want to tell all Phil's faults to a 
 stranger. 
 
 " ' Well,' he said, ' come home with me then, 'merch i , 
 there's no doubt 'tis home is best for the sorrowful. Day 
 after to-morrow I will be sailing, and if the wind is fair
 
 266 ®n tbe mims of tbe Mlnb 
 
 we'll be in Stranport next day ; so be you here by ten in 
 the morning,' says he, ' and ask for l^he Curlew, Captain 
 Jones." 
 
 " Well ; I thanked him and went home a little comforted, 
 and I was busy all next day packing up the clothes that 
 Phil had given me — every rag, every ribbon I had bought 
 since I had married him — and only my old clothes I kept in 
 my own box. I showed the others to Mrs Roberts, and 
 gave her the key to give to Phil when he came home. 
 
 " 'And what will I say to him? " she said. 
 
 "' Ilothing,' 1 said. And I sent my box to the docks 
 when Mrs Roberts and little Mary were gone out that day, 
 and 'tis at Stranport now, and a sailor that's coming to 
 Porthlidan next week will bring it with him. Oh, 
 'tis late ! there's tbe clock going to strike two ! but I 
 have nearly finished now. I had no money to pay 
 Captain Jones because I wouldn't touch Phil's money, 
 but left it all with Mrs Roberts to give him. Captain 
 Jones was very kind and didn't charge me anything 
 for my voyage to Stranport, and indeed I couldn't pay 
 him because I had only a shilling in* my pocket when 
 I started from there ; sixpence I paid for food for my 
 journey, and sixpence for my lodgings that night when I 
 had walked miles and miles — about twenty, I think. 
 It was very cold, and the sleet was stinging my face like 
 needles when I was crossing the mountains, and asking 
 sometimes, ' Is this the way to Cardiganshire ? ' but I didn't 
 care, nor feel it a bit, my spirit was so full of pride and 
 anger. This morning it was different. My body was tired 
 and worn out, and my spirit only wanted to reach here and 
 die ; and oh, Miriel, when I saw the light in this little 
 window I was afraid to knock because of how I had de- 
 ceived you, and because I had been the cause of poor Uncle 
 Sil's death. So I stood in the snow a long time, and called 
 you softly, softly, many times before I ventured to tap at 
 the window."
 
 Betta's Stor^ 267 
 
 "Yes, I heard it," said Miriel, kissing the hand which, 
 for the first time, she noticed wore no wedding-ring. " You 
 shall stay with me always, Betta fach ; and indeed there's 
 glad I am to have your company. You shall never go away 
 till Phil comes to fetch you, and to ask you to forgive 
 him." 
 
 " Forgive him 1 If ever, never. I will never forgive him ! 
 Let him go to the South or the North, I will not care. No, 
 never ! " 
 
 " But if he is ill or in trouble?" 
 
 "Oh, that would be different, of course. Yes, then I 
 would go to him and help him all I could, but forgive him ? 
 I am afraid never as long as I live." 
 
 And seeing her feelings were strained to such a pitch of 
 excitement Miriel forbore to say more, but endeavouring 
 to soothe and calm her, she at last persuaded her to retire 
 to rest in the little bed that had once been Gwen's. 
 
 The snow continued to fall all night, and when next 
 morning she awoke she saw a white world, the slope all 
 covered in a smooth, soft mantle of white unmarked by a 
 human footstep. Only the rabbits ran over it sometimes, 
 scattering the powdered snow as they ran. The wind had 
 fallen and the pale dawn was lighting up the sky. Betta 
 still slept, and, dressing noiselessly, Miriel left the worn face 
 on its pillow, wondering much that in so short a time sorrow 
 could have made such ravages in Betta's ripe full beauty. 
 
 For herself, a fresh interest had come into her life. 
 There was Betta to comfort and cheer, to restore her to 
 health, and, who knows, perhaps to happiness, for to Miriel's 
 nature gloom and despondency were strangers. Sorrow 
 she could feel deeply for herself and others, but morbid 
 sadness was a thing impossible to her temperament, and she 
 cast off the dark clouds that sometimes gathered round her 
 as some gallant ship that rides the stormy waters straight 
 to her destination, flinging the angry foam from her prow as 
 she speeds on her way.
 
 268 ®n tbe Minas ot tbe MlnD 
 
 Her heart was sorely distressed for Betta — but — she was 
 asleep and resting ; the snow was thick and the wind was 
 cold, but the storm was over and along the coast the salt 
 air would soon melt it ; the roads would be impassable, but 
 not for long ; and in that snowed-up house there was, at 
 all events, one bright, energetic being who began the day 
 with zest and courage, not fearing to take up the odds 
 against sorrow and gloom. 
 
 Kit and Brythen had to be milked, Mali and Stivin had 
 to be communicated with somehow, and, above all, lago had 
 to be informed of Betta's return. Here she hesitated a 
 little, and was glad that, for the present at least, the snow 
 was too deep to wade to Hafod. 
 
 Already she heard Stivin's spade at work, and before 
 very long he appeared at the door, his burly form, his red 
 face and shock of rusty hair forming so complete a contrast 
 to the delicate white scene around him, that Miriel received 
 him with a burst of laughter in which he joined heartily 
 without knowing why. 
 
 " Mali is wanting to know how you are. 'Clear thou to 
 the lo's fach,' says she, 'and I'll clear to the pig ! ' I hope 
 he isn't smothered, pwr fellow. Theresa snow ! Ach y 
 fi!" 
 
 It was late in the forenoon when Betta came in to the 
 penisha. In a gown of Miriel's, with her black hair coiled 
 round her head, she no longer looked like the forlorn 
 figure of the night before, but the thin, pale face that had 
 once been so round and rosy, the dark shadows under the 
 eyes, told a tale of wakeful nights and sorrow-laden 
 days. 
 
 She helped Miriel with her household work and prepared 
 their frugal dinner as she had been accustomed to do at 
 Hafod, but with an utter absence of interest and a listless 
 apathy which Miriel reproved gently. 
 
 " Betta fach ! " she said, " he will return some day, 
 I'm sure he will, and will beg your forgiveness, and you
 
 Betta'5 Stori? 269 
 
 will go away again, in the Sea Gull perhaps, bright and 
 happy." 
 
 "There you are mistaken, Miriel. That is what will 
 never happen, for I tell you if he came back to-morrow I 
 would not forgive him. I would know that in a month he 
 would be weary of me again, and I will never give him that 
 chance. No, no, nothing can alter Phil ! " 
 
 " Well, indeed, God can whatever," said Miriel ; but see- 
 ing that argument was useless she refrained from further 
 attempting to change Betta's mood, trusting that time 
 would soften the bitterness of her trouble. 
 
 A dozen times that day she looked up the moor for signs 
 of the snow's melting, but more fell in the afternoon, and 
 the third day was drawing to a close before a stamping was 
 heard in the porch and lago appeared with the same air of 
 composure which reigned over him at all times, sometimes 
 contradicted by the sparkle in his eye and the smile on his 
 lips. 
 
 "Miriel," he called at the doorway, "are you alive here? 
 In my deed, from the top of the slope Doloer looks so 
 buried in the snow, that I couldn't wait longer without 
 coming to see how you fared. Oh, ho," he added, catching 
 sight of Betta, "you are not quite alone I'm glad to see." 
 For a moment he did not recognise Betta, who was sitting 
 in the shadow of the hearth, her head bent a little over her 
 knitting, but upon realising who the stranger was the ex- 
 pression on his kindly face altered completely. He drew 
 himself up and a look of indignant anger shone in his eyes. 
 Betta cowered before him, and, as he continued to stand 
 silent for some time, she dropped her knitting and, bursting 
 into tears, stretched her hands towards him ; but as though 
 he did not see them he turned away, and with a bitter anger 
 darkening his face he passed out into the snow, merely 
 waving his hand to Miriel as he passed her. 
 
 " Oh, it cannot be like this ! " said Miriel, looking after 
 him. "He must forgive;" and running after him round
 
 270 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Wiinb 
 
 the garden hedge, she followed the path that his footsteps 
 had made through the snow, catching him up as he reached 
 the gate into the Hafod clos. He had hurried almost un- 
 consciously up the moor, startled by the sudden sight of 
 Betta, so that when Miricl laid her hand upon his arm he 
 was doubly surprised. 
 
 "You, Miriel, through all the snow ? Why didn't you 
 call me back? It is dangerous walking between these 
 drifts." 
 
 "Your face was so dark, lago, I was afraid to call you ; 
 but I beseech you to forgive poor Betta. If you only 
 knew her sad story." 
 
 " I can imagine it all," he said. ** It began that 
 morning when they sailed away together and my poor 
 deluded father waved his blessing and his fforwel to 
 Phil. No, I cannot forgive the girl who deceived so 
 cruelly those who had brought her up from childhood, 
 and been kind to her. I look upon her and Phil as my 
 father's murderers. How can I then pardon them t 'Tis 
 not in my heart to feel it, and I will not tell a lie about it." 
 
 " Oil, lago ! " was all Miriel's answer ; but her eyes 
 looked wistfully imploring, and the tremble in her voice 
 touched him a little, but his anger kindled within him, 
 and on his brow a dark cloud lowered. 
 
 " I would do anything for you, Miriel," he said, " but I 
 cannot make wrong right. It would seem to me cruel to 
 my father's memory so soon to forgive his enemies." 
 
 Miriel turned away rather hopelessly, picking her way 
 over the track which she and lago had made in the snow. 
 She was accustomed to these moods of implacable anger in 
 her countrymen, for the race that is so tender and pitiful 
 to distress, is unforgiving and even vindictive in a strange 
 degree towards injuries, or imagined offences. 
 
 It was therefore with an unusually grave face that she 
 re-entered Doloer, where Betta, sitting dreaming over the 
 fire, rose nervously to meet her.
 
 Setta's Stors «7i 
 
 " He won't forgive me, I know." 
 
 Miriel shook her head. 
 
 " No, I didn't expect it. And yet I was thinking here, 
 over my knitting, if I could go back to Hafod and take up 
 my work as before, I would spend myself in lago's service ; 
 and I would wipe the past out of my mind, and it would 
 be like a bad dream." 
 
 •' Well, it shows you are to stop at Doloer and be 
 company for me," said Miriel, kissing the pale face 
 tenderly. And so it seemed likely to continue. The two 
 girls dropped naturally into the terms of their old friend- 
 ship. Complete contrasts as they were to each other in 
 character as well as in outward appearance, each seemed 
 to be the complement of the other, and the result was a 
 calmly united companionship which was very pleasant to 
 Miriel, and lightened though it could not heal Betta's 
 sorrow.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 STORM BEATEN 
 
 Betta's return, sick and alone, made some stir even in 
 that sparsely-populated neighbourhood. Everyone had 
 his or her own theory as to the meaning of it, but agreed 
 that it couldn't be " olreit " with the young people ; and 
 whatever it might be, 'twasn't worse than she deserved, 
 ach y fi ! 
 
 But heedless, and indeed ignorant of all these remarks, 
 the two girls lived on together in peaceful seclusion, and 
 one at least found in the hollow of the slope, on the cosy 
 hearth, and in her small household duties, enough to fill 
 her life with interest and her heart with content; while 
 the other, though often sad and sorrowful, yet gradually 
 regained her health and comparative peace of mind. She 
 regained her beauty too, with the additional charm and 
 refinement that sorrow patiently borne invariably lends 
 to every face. 
 
 When the winter was over and the first days of early 
 spring began to loosen the frost, and to move the sap in 
 the thorn bushes, lago was still unrelenting towards 
 Betta, and seldom entered Doloer — never, unless he was 
 sure of her absence. She seemed to flag a good deal as 
 the days began to lengthen, when the evenings grew grey 
 and soft at sunset, and the moor began to send up the 
 smell of the awakening earth ; and she often stood witla 
 Stivin on the garden hedge and looked wistfully over the 
 
 bay. 
 
 272
 
 storm Beaten 273 
 
 To the latter the winter months had brought little 
 satisfaction, for they had passed without the usual 
 excitement of a shipwreck ; not even a fishing smack 
 had been imperilled. 
 
 "Never saw such a winter," he said, with an indignant 
 snort. " Plenty of noise and wet, but no storms." 
 
 " Well, we don't want a shipwreck, Stivin bach," said 
 Betta. 
 
 " No, 'merch i, of course not. 'Tis to save the drowning 
 men I want. Dei anw'l ! you don't know what it is to 
 be in the foam of the breakers and then to catch hold on 
 a poor struggling fellow, or to feel him catching hold on 
 you. 'Tis then the blood rushes through your veins like 
 fire, and you feel yourself like a giant fighting with the 
 storm." 
 
 "I have heard you have saved many lives indeed, but I 
 would rather not see you do it. The pwr sailors struggling 
 in the water ! Ach y fi ! no, I could not bear it. 'Tis 
 quite stormy enough for me to-day." For March was 
 upon them with its bluster and foam ; and Betta, having 
 been brought up amongst the inland mountains, had a 
 dread of the equinoctial gales, that only brought music 
 to Miriel's ears and a sense of invigoration to her 
 heart. 
 
 For several days a heavy grey mist had shrouded the 
 horizon, the wind blowing fitfully in sudden gusts, the 
 sea answering its call with tossing spray and heavy incom- 
 ing breakers. 
 
 "It is a good thing no ship is passing to-day," said 
 Miriel, her experienced eyes recognising the signs of the 
 turbulent weather. "'Tis a slow rising wind ; it will be 
 worse to-morrow, and the foam fingers will be tapping at 
 the window again, like the night you came, Betta. Oh ! 
 anw'l ! there's frightened I was ! " 
 
 ** Yes, and I too ; so afraid I was that you would turn 
 me away from the door."
 
 274 ®n tbe Minas of tbe Minb 
 
 " No, no, I wouldn't do that, and I longing for a com- 
 panion so much ! " 
 
 This was not quite true, though she was scarcely aware 
 of it, for she had V)een very content with her solitude. 
 
 Next day the wind had risen to a gale. Mali ran in and 
 out with her bare arms wrapped up in her apron, while 
 Stivin stood defiantly at the corner of the house, where the 
 wind blew straight in his teeth. The storm increased with 
 every hour that passed, and towards evening was at its 
 height, huge breakers rolling their foaming crests towards 
 the shore and rising in clouds of spray, where their course 
 was obstructed by tlie reef of black rocks which ran across 
 the little harbour. Here they reared and reeled backwards, 
 tossing their white arms high in the air and mingling with 
 each other in a pandemonium of angry strife. The two 
 girls standing in the warmly-lighted penisha could 
 scarcely leave the little window, from which, between the 
 flecks of foam, they could watch the seething waves and 
 the rearing columns of spray against the leaden sky. 
 Over the scene of turmoil the darkness of night was fast 
 faEing. 
 
 "Ach y fi! let us put up a blind," said Betta at last, 
 for in spite of herself her thoughts would fly to a distant 
 sea, where perhaps the storm raged just as furiously and a 
 lone ship perhaps was in deadly peril. 
 
 "Yes, as Beni Tygraig did (Stivin will tell you the 
 story some evening) ; and let us go on with our candle- 
 wicks ! " for they were in the middle of candle-making, 
 twisting the wicks of cotton and hanging them on rods, in 
 readiness on some convenient occasion to dip them into the 
 pot of melted grease ; and in spite of the hurly-burly 
 outside, by that cosy hearth the evening passed cheerily 
 enough. 
 
 Stivin came in with his budget of stories, and Mali with 
 her store of gossip, for she had seen a woman who had been 
 to market the day before, and had learnt from her that at
 
 storm Beaten 275 
 
 Trogarreg there was much sickness, and Doctor Dan was 
 worked to death, looking very ill himself, too, "and no 
 wonder, pwr fellow ! " 
 
 "Well," she said at last, "'tis plain we can't rule the 
 storm, so go you to bed both of you, and cover your heads 
 from the sound of it, and you will sleep all night." 
 
 But this prediction seemed unlikely to be verified, for 
 Miriel lay long awake, disturbed not only by the turmoil 
 of the elements, but by that unrest also in her own spirit, 
 to which she could give no name, and which sometimes in 
 spite of her courage refused to be stifled. 
 
 "Looking very ill himself, too." The words haunted her, 
 and she sighed and turned wearily on her pillow as she 
 realised that an intangible but very real cloud had fallen 
 over Doctor Dan's friendly feelings towards her, for that 
 he had any more tender or definite sentiment than that of 
 friendship for her had never dawned upon her mind. At 
 last she fell asleep, the heavy, dreamless sleep that follows a 
 troubled wakefulness, but from that she was suddenly 
 roused, and started up in afi'right at the sight of a white 
 figure standing at her bedside. 
 
 " Betta ! What is it, then 1 " 
 
 " Oh ! I cannot sleep, Miriel. 'Tis the noise ; I am 
 hearing voices in the wind. Strange sounds and cries ! " 
 
 "Twt, twt, that is nothing," said Miriel. "I have 
 heard them many times ; cries and sobs, and sometimes 
 music. Come and sleep by me, you will perish with cold, 
 lass ! " 
 
 But in another moment they were startled by a loud 
 thumping at the door, Stivin shouting to them in the 
 darkness, " Miriel ! Betta ! rise ! 'tis a ship on the rocks." 
 
 Hurriedly the two girls opened the door, to find Mali 
 gesticulating and shouting in the gale. Stivin would not 
 wait to give them any explanation, but left them with 
 injunctions to " look sharp " and be prepared with blankets 
 aud hot water.
 
 276 ®n tbe Mlnas of tbe Min& 
 
 Having made their preparations, they left the house 
 together, and struggling against the sleet and snow, 
 buffeted by the wind and driven hither and thither by its 
 force, they at last reached the shore, where they found all 
 the inmates of Hafod were already gathered. Conversation 
 was impossible ; they could only huddle together and wait 
 and watch while Stivin launched his boat. 
 
 To Miriel the turmoil and the strife were familiar; she 
 had been bred in their midst, had often played hide and 
 seek as it were with the storm. But upon Betta, who had 
 not long lived on the sea coast, they had a different effect. 
 She shrank in terror as each fresh gust swept down upon 
 them, threatening to carry them back to Doloer in its 
 swirling embrace ; and clinging to Miriel, she trembled as 
 the strong blast passed by. Stivin was already trying 
 to cross the inner harbour, which, protected by the reef 
 of rocks from the full force of the wind, was comparatively 
 safe and calm. 
 
 As the boat got clear of the sandy shore, lago, too, 
 sprang into it, and together they pulled across the harbout 
 and disappeared from the siglit of the watchers in the grey 
 darkness, through which the dawn was beginning to shed 
 the first gleam of light. 
 
 But although tbe tiny boat was lost to view the grim 
 black line of rocks was plainly visible beyond. Outside 
 them it was evident the storm was at his height, for 
 the waves rose higher and higher as they dashed against 
 the reef and poured their torrents of spent wrath over the 
 barrier into the quieter waters within. 
 
 As the light increased they caught sight of the boat 
 again, a black speck on the white, and their hearts stood 
 still as at last they saw Stivin dash into the foam and 
 climb up the rampart of rocks. 
 
 " Most like he will find someone flung upon the rocks 
 dead or alive," said Mali. " We saw the ship half an hour 
 ago, but now you see there is nothing of her left except a
 
 storm Beaten 277 
 
 shattered mass of planks and splinters," which was true, 
 the waves tossing and swirling them about as if in play. 
 She had ridden before the relentless fury of the gale to her 
 Vieadlong destruction, and now all that remained of her 
 were these splinters and a few torn sails which clung 
 to the rugged edges of the rocks. 
 
 The men who had walked her decks (except one who was 
 tossed about on the billows) were out of this storm, 
 and were even now lying with calm and placid faces at so 
 great a depth in the hidden caverns of the sea that no 
 disturbance of the upper world could reach them. 
 
 Ignorant of this, Stivin crawled and crept for long, but 
 was about to give up his search in despair when on the 
 towering crest of a huge approaching billow he saw a dark 
 object lifted up for a moment and then dashed with relent- 
 less force against the jagged reef. 
 
 In a moment he had pounced upon it, clutching it with a 
 grip that nothing but death would have relaxed. 
 
 The apparently lifeless body, sodden, limp and silent, 
 was dragged across the reef, and with lago's help was lifted 
 into the boat. •' Now, row on, my lad ! " roared Stivin, 
 for nothing less would have been audible. 
 
 Straining every muscle, and helped by the force of the 
 wind, they drew rapidly towards the shore, where the two 
 men-servants from Hafod had already prepared a sail, and 
 in this impromptu stretcher the inert form was gently 
 lifted and carried over the sand towards the slope. 
 
 "To Doloer, I suppose," shouted lago ; there was no 
 possibility of explanation, but Miriel knew it would be too 
 far to carry that dead weight up to Hafod, and ran forward 
 to acquiesce. 
 
 "Yes, yes, lago," she said, coming up with him, "and 
 on Nanti Gwen's bed. Betta and I can sleep in the big 
 bed together." 
 
 The two girls followed the silent procession as it crossed 
 the beach, both dreading and wondering what might be
 
 2 78 ®n tbe MiuGS ot the xmin^ 
 
 the fate of that long, straight form that went before them 
 through the darkness, and both shrinking nervously when 
 Stivin's awkward, though willing, footsteps stumbled a 
 little, as though they felt themselves the pain of the jar. 
 Carefully they carried their silent burden over the 
 threshold and into the little inner room, which had \ieen 
 latterly occupied by Betta. 
 
 " He's dead, I think ! " said Stivin, as softly as he could, 
 and he drew the curtains so that the disfigured form of 
 humanity might be hidden from the sight of the two 
 girls. A low moan from the bed, however, corrected thia 
 impression. 
 
 " 'Tis Doctor Dan we want at once," said Tago ; *' send 
 Evan for him, Betta." And so glad was she to hear the 
 kindly tones in which he spoke to her that she was pre- 
 paring to run at once through the storm to Hafod, but 
 Miriel stopped her. 
 
 '• He is gone already," she said ; " and no doubt the 
 doctor will be here soon, because Evan saw him at Bryndu 
 late last night. The mistress ia ill, and they had sent for 
 him." 
 
 "There's lucky!" ."laid Stivin. They waited in the old 
 penisha while the dawn broadened and the storm lessened 
 a little, as if ashamed that the morning should find it still 
 raging. 
 
 Miriel's hot cup of tea was gratefully partaken of by all, 
 for the cold was bitiugly severe. I-'^go sat on the table 
 dangling his legs, Miriel moving about attending to the 
 wants of all the group, while Betta ran continually into 
 the penisha, listening, with bated breath, for the faint 
 moaning in the inner room, which showed the hardy 
 sailor was still alive. The moments seemed lengthened 
 into hours while they waited, but, in reality, less than an 
 hour had passed before Doctor Dan's footsteps were heard 
 in the porch, and, as he entered, all gathered fresh hop© 
 and courage from his firm step and cheerful tones.
 
 storm Beaten 279 
 
 " Well," he said, taking in the whole company with a 
 nod, " where is the man 1 " and lago led him into the 
 inner room. 
 
 In a few moments, however, they both re-entered the 
 living-room, where the others waited in suspense. 
 
 " Let someone unharness Samson, and send Deio to me," 
 he said, and noticing Betta for the first time he looked 
 inquiringly at her. 
 
 " This is Carbetta, my brother Phil's wife," explained 
 lago, for Miriel was hanging back under the Iwvwr 
 chimney. 
 
 "Yes, yes, I remember. Well, I want her and Miriel; 
 is she here ? I want them to go out of the house while I 
 do what I can for this pwr fellow." 
 
 "Can't we help?" said Miriel, coming forward. "We 
 can be quite strong and quiet." 
 
 " I know you can ; but I would rather you went out of 
 the house." 
 
 " To Mali Storrom's ? " 
 
 " No ; further would be better," and he turned away 
 into the penisha, and lago followed, returning quickly, 
 however, to explain, — 
 
 " He wants us all to go except you, Mali and Deio. Oh, 
 here he is ! " 
 
 They all therefore obediently left the house, leaving 
 Mali and Deio alone with the doctor ; Stivin fuming 
 indignantly at his bauishment. 
 
 " I'm afraid the pwr man is very bad ! " said Miriel, as 
 she entered the Hafod clos alone with lago, Betta having 
 lingered behind, unwilling to enter the old home without 
 permission. 
 
 " No doubt," said lago ; " but where is Betta ? " 
 
 " She is afraid to come without a word from you," said 
 Miriel ; and he turned and passed through the gate to 
 where, standing behind a thorn bush, she was sheltering 
 from the wind.
 
 28o ®n tbe Wlnas of tbe MinD 
 
 "Come in, Betta," he said. "Let there be no more 
 anger between us. I have been bitterly angry with thee, 
 but I'm thinking God has punished thee enough, and I will 
 not add to thy troubles by my surly ways, lass," and he 
 smiled the old kindly smile which she knew so well, and 
 her heart was lightened of a great burden. 
 
 In the living-room at Hafod she found Miriel awaiting 
 her on the hearth, where Mali was beginning to lay the 
 table for the unusually early breakfast, while the cows, 
 still tied to their posts, their heads and backs just level 
 with the stone floor, looked at them with their large soft 
 eyes, chewing the cud, and " mooing " softly as they 
 recognised the signs of an early milking. 
 
 How familiar it all was to Betta ! Even the smell of 
 the cows was homely and pleasant, for, opposite the front 
 doorway, was another opening into the garden, and be- 
 tween these two there was always a current of air sufficient 
 to keep the old house well ventilated. 
 
 Mali stared in undisguised and impertinent astonishment 
 at Betta's arrival, and through the latter's heart swept a 
 Tave of proud satisfaction, somewhat akin to that with 
 which a queen resumes the sway of a kingdom from which 
 she has for a time been banished. lago left the two girls 
 to themselves when he had seen them safely settled in the 
 cosy kitchen and ran down the slope to Doloer so as to be 
 in readiness should he be wanted. The clouds of night 
 were dispersing, and a pale crescent moon was sinking 
 below the horizon as if weary of the night of storm, while 
 the sun rose strong and radiant, and looking down on the 
 sleet-covered earth promised a speedy thaw and a change 
 of weather. He found Stivin standing by the garden 
 hedge waiting impatiently until the turning tide should 
 carry over the reef the spars and broken planks, which 
 would take days to collect and to gather into a heap for 
 future burning. 
 
 Meanwhile, Miriel aijd Betta set to work to prepare the
 
 storm SScaten 281 
 
 breakfast, and before long the pleasant smell of hot coffee 
 and fried ham filled the house, Betta bustling about with 
 a brighter look on her face than it had worn for many a 
 day. 
 
 But, when all was ready, their patience was sorely tried, 
 for although lago ran up to snatch a huri-ied meal, it was 
 quite two hours before they saw Doctor Dan and Deio 
 drive up the moor, lago walking slowly behind. 
 
 Arrived in the clos, the doctor alighted and entered the 
 living-room, where, in the light of the blazing logs, the 
 two girls were hovering round the long-delayed breakfast. 
 
 " Will he live ? " asked both at once. 
 
 "That I cannot tell," he answered gravely. "I have 
 done my best for him, but his recovery depends upon his 
 constitution. Pwr fellow ! he is badly hurt, and must have 
 been dashed more than once upon those rocks. He is asleep 
 now, and Mali is sitting by him." 
 
 •' Breakfast is ready," said Miriel, nervously, " and you 
 must be hungry. Will you sit here ? " And she placed a 
 chair at the table ; but, try as she would, she could not 
 shake off an awkward coldness of manner which she was 
 very far from feeling. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " he said. " Mali has given me all I require. 
 I must go back to Tregarreg; there are several people 
 there waiting for me ; but I will be here to-morrow 
 again." 
 
 Breakfast under Silvan Yaughan's roof, with Miriel, too, 
 presiding at the table ! With all his self-contained stoicism 
 he felt himself unequal to the ordeal, so he hid his vexation 
 under a garb of cold reserve. 
 
 The Iwvwr chimney stretched its warm shelter over the 
 group, the sparks flew upwards, the rhythm of Mari's milk- 
 ing filled up the pauses in the conversation ; and this picture 
 he was to carry away with him and often recall to memory 
 by his own lonely hearth. 
 
 " lago will be very grieved that you will not have
 
 282 ®n tbe Minas of tbe Mint) 
 
 breakfast," said Betta, for Miriel had shrunk into herself 
 in silence. 
 
 " I am sorry, but I must go," he said ; and at that 
 moment lago entered. 
 
 " I am sorry too," he said, " but I have already pressed 
 Doctor Dan to stay ! " And both the girls saw the look of 
 offended pride with which he spoke. Probably Doctor Dan 
 saw it too, but he did not allude to it. 
 
 " I want to give you a few directions before I go, 
 Miriel," he said. " You can both return to Doloer now if 
 you wish. You will have to provide yourselves with a 
 stock of courage and patience. I want perfect quietness 
 and almost darkness for this man or he will have no chance 
 of recovery ; and, understand that he must not talk even if 
 he could, though I think I have taken precautions against 
 that. Give him only milk till I give you leave. Well, I 
 think I have said all, so good-bye ! " and he turned away 
 and drove out of the clos. 
 
 Betta and Miriel looked blankly at each other when he 
 was gone. " There's a pity ! " said the former; "well, we 
 must eat ourselves, for lago, I know, is hungry." 
 
 " Yes," said lago, " we cannot force a sulky man to eat." 
 
 " Sulky ! There are other sick people waiting for him," 
 said Miriel. 
 
 " Well, he has done well for the poor man any way, 
 although I will never like him nor he me, I think ! " said 
 lago, and they drew their chairs to the table together — the 
 unrest of the storm outside seeming to have spread it8 
 influence over both lago and Miriel. 
 
 The talk, of course, was of the storm and the stranger 
 whom it had thrown upon their hands. 
 
 " I am afraid he is very bad ! " said Miriel. 
 
 " Yes," said lago, " his face and head are much injured, 
 and if he lives Doctor Dan fears for his eyesight." 
 
 " Ts, ts, there's a pity ! " said Betta. " Will we go down 
 at once, Miriel, and see how he is?" And they went
 
 storm aBeaten 283 
 
 together down the slope, where every moment the change 
 in the weather was more and more evident. 
 
 The sun shone and the larks sang. You could almost 
 hear the snow thawing. In the garden there were already 
 visible brown patches of earth, bursting and cracking with 
 the upheaving life beneath it, clumps of daffodils on the 
 hedge thrust up their pale yellow sheaths, and in the 
 sheltered hollows the pale pink primroses stole a march 
 upon their yellow cousins. 
 
 In the porch a bunch of wallflowers were already opening 
 to the sunshine and suggesting sweet odours of spring. A 
 row of sparkling drops edged the thatched roof, and there 
 was a sound of running water everywhere. 
 
 Unconsciously the disappearing snow, the promise of 
 spring, had filled them all with a renewal of hope and 
 courage. Nevertheless Mali shook her head in answer to 
 their question, " Has he awoke 1 " He had not, and con- 
 tinued to sleep for two or three hours. When he did 
 awake he was in a burning fever, talking incessantly, to 
 their great vexation, as the doctor had desired perfect 
 quiet for the muscles of the face. 
 
 Miriel and Betta were indefatigable in their care of him, 
 taking it in turns to sit beside him, and with Mali's help 
 doing all they could to soothe and lessen his pain. 
 
 He continued to ramble incoherently, but the numerous 
 strips of plaster with which Doctor Dan had drawn the 
 wounds together made it impossible to distinguish the 
 jumble of words which poured from his parched lips. 
 Right glad were they when the next day brought the 
 doctor's gig down the soft turf. His visits continued every 
 day for a week, afterwards becoming a little less frequent as 
 the shipwrecked man not only still lived, but showed some 
 signs of recovery. In this way three weeks passed away, 
 and yet the poor battered form lay on Gwen's bed, his face 
 and eyes still bearing the disfiguring bandages which gave 
 him the appearance of a swathed mummy. Mali was even
 
 284 On tbe Minos of tbe MinD 
 
 more impatient than the two girls to discard these dis- 
 figurements, but Doctor Dan was inflexible. 
 
 " He is recovering — that must be enough for thee, Mali," 
 he said. Gradually the fever had abated, succeeded by an 
 apathetic quietness and depression which the doctor felt 
 would be as hard to combat as the shattered body had been 
 to heal. 
 
 The window was deeply shaded. Indeed the room was 
 kept in almost complete darkness. 
 
 " Another week and we will remove the covering from 
 his eyes," the doctor had said, " but gradually." All were 
 equally interested in the invalid's cure, even Stivin often 
 filling the doorway and peering through the gloom at the 
 straight, stiff figure on the bed. He had collected a great 
 pile of driftwood on the beach and was busily engaged 
 every day in wheeling it up and stacking it behind his 
 cottage. 
 
 " There's fires we'll have next winter," he said to Miriel 
 one day. " Never was such a break up ! No need for me 
 to use my hatchet. There's one piece with letters on it — 
 only two or three — but I am kiwking at every bit now to 
 see can I find the rest of it. 'Tis the name of the ship, no 
 doubt." 
 
 " Oh, let me see," said Miriel, running out with him to 
 the shed, where he hunted for and found a piece of wood 
 amongst a heap of bowls and platters. 
 
 "There you see," he said, pointing to the letters, "an 
 • EE ' and an ' 11,' " pronouncing it with a good Welsh 
 hiss. 
 
 " But in English that would be a * u ' and a double ' L,' " 
 said Miriel. 
 
 " Well, see underneath there's an ' Ay ' and an ' Er ' and 
 an ' 1.' " 
 
 " Yes, that would be an ' E ' and an ' R ' and an ' L.' " 
 
 ** Caton pawb ! there's a way to say their letters, and me 
 thinking the Saison were so clevare ! "
 
 storm JSeaten 285 
 
 Miriel did not answer, but turned slowly towards the 
 porch now growing gay with its tapestry of wallflowers and 
 ferns. 
 
 Before entering it she stood looking out to sea, thinking 
 hard, with quite a pucker on her white forehead. 
 
 The spring had made a grand step in advance; the 
 hedge was gay with daffodils and snowdrops, every branch 
 was bursting into green, the bees venturing out into the 
 sunshine, and the garden calling for attention ; but she 
 scarcely noticed all these signs, for everything must wait 
 while the invalid required nursing. Entering the darkened 
 room she sent Betta out into the sunshine, taking her 
 place at the bedside and, at last, when her eyes were a 
 little accustomed to the gloom, looking earnestly at the 
 silent form on the bed. 
 
 A strange idea had entered her mind as she spelt with 
 Stivin the letters on the piece of driftwood — an impression 
 that she could not banish. Was it the Sea Gull that had 
 been dashed to pieces on those jagged rocks? Was this 
 stranger, who had been the object of their care and solici- 
 tude, Phil ? Dare she tell Betta of her suspicions ? No, 
 she would wait for further certainty, and tell no one of the 
 idea that had taken possession of her mind. She watched 
 and listened more closely, while the sick man, now making 
 daily though slow progress towards recovery, lay apparently 
 lost in deep thought, as disinclined as he was unable to 
 enter into conversation. 
 
 That day the doctor remained much longer than usual in 
 the sick-roora, Miriel and Betta waiting anxiously in the 
 penisha to which he returned at last with a satisfied 
 look. 
 
 "Well," he said, "I have taken off the bandages, his 
 face is free ; but his eyes must remain as they are for the 
 present. One thing you must promise, that you do not 
 let him talk more than is absolutely necessary until his face 
 is entirely healed."
 
 286 ®n tbe Mings of tbe Mtn^ 
 
 " We promise ! " said both girls at once, and with his 
 usual brusque "Good-bye" he left the house. 
 
 A few days later on they gained the long-wished-for 
 permission to let a little light into the sick-room, and Mali 
 delighted Stivin's heart by giving him a peremptory order 
 for a pair of crutches, " and be sharp about it, man, for I 
 tell thee the sailor is getting well and troublesome. We 
 sha'n't keep him in bed much longer." 
 
 " Hast asked him what's his name yet ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, many times I have slipped it in my talk, 
 but he is taking no notice and not answering. Wait you 
 till to-morrow, and I'll make him give an answer. Caton 
 pawb ! that's the least thing he can do for all our care of 
 him." 
 
 '* Perhaps he hasn't got a name," said Stivin, hunting 
 about for a straight pole for his crutches. *' I knew a man 
 in Monte Video — " 
 
 " Oh, tchwt ! I have no time to go to Monte Video with 
 thee now," said Mali, unceremoniously turning her back and 
 leaving the shed. 
 
 That evening she insisted upon sending the two girls out 
 together. " The man is getting well," she said, "and I am 
 quite enough to be with him here. Go you out both of 
 you," and they went, to walk up and down at the edge of 
 the tide as of old, with each one's arm round the other's 
 waist. 
 
 " There's a sweet smell comes down the slope," said 
 Miriel. " There is something very bright and hopeful 
 about the spring, Betta." 
 
 " For you, perhaps, lass, but not for mo whatever." 
 
 " Yes, for you too, indeed ! I am sure enough it 
 holds some joy for you too, more than for me, most 
 likely." 
 
 " For me 1 That's nonsense, Miriel ; there is no more 
 joy for me, except that lago will take me back to Hafod. 
 It will be hard to leave you, and hard tasks are before me
 
 storm Beaten 287 
 
 there, but nothing will be too hard. 'Twill be a pleasure 
 to me to do all I can for lago." 
 
 '* "Well, he will be glad to have you back, no doubt." 
 
 " Yes, when this poor man is well. Jack we call him, 
 but surely he will tell us his real name now." 
 
 '* Yes. Have you seen his face yet ? " said Miriel. 
 
 " Oh ! one glance. I couldn't look again. 'Tis dread- 
 fully scarred, and that green shade over his eyes ! Ach 
 yfi!" 
 
 Not till the next afternoon, however, did Miriel obtain 
 the certainty she desired as to the stranger's identity. 
 Stivin brought in the crutch with the help of which he 
 was to get up and leave the darkened room for the shady 
 penisha, but the sight of it did not appear to give Jack as 
 much satisfaction as it had given Stiven. He lifted the 
 green shade off his eyes a little to look at it, and then 
 with a sigh turned his head away, much to Stivin's indig- 
 nation. 
 
 " Straight and strong, and smooth as satin ! "What 
 would you have better ? " he said. 
 
 " It is very nice," said Jack, wearily, in the indistinct 
 tones which his tender though fast-healing wounds still 
 caused. 
 
 It was curious how the sound of his voice invariably 
 sent a shiver through Betta's frame. Even now she shrank 
 back behind the curtain as the invalid asked again, — 
 
 " Miriel, is that you ? " 
 
 •' Yes," said Miriel, taking Betta's place. 
 
 " I am at Doloer, I know." 
 
 " Yes, but you must not talk much. Doctor Dan says." 
 
 " Oh, he is too careful ! I can talk very well these last 
 days only I have not had the courage. Miriel, if you 
 knew who I was you would not be so kind to me." 
 
 " I know, Phil bach, it is you ! " 
 
 "You know ! and yet you have nursed me as if I had 
 been your own brother ? " and again he fell into that deep
 
 288 ®n tbe Minos of tbe MiuD 
 
 thought which had been so constantly brooding over him 
 during his convalescence, and in the dim light and silence 
 Miriel had time to ponder too, and piece together the 
 strange course of events that had brought Philip Vaughan 
 a shipwrecked waif to his old home. 
 
 She was alone, for Betta, astonished at her words, "I 
 know, Phil bach, it is you ! " had risen in nervous trepida- 
 tion and slipped quietly into the penisha, where, enter- 
 ing a short time afterwards, Miriel found her, her arms 
 leaning on the table and her face buried upon them, sob- 
 bing with that abandonment which sometimes has in it as 
 much of happiness as sorrow. 
 
 " Betta ! Betta ! These tears ? and my words coming 
 true so soon ! Joy for you ! didn't I tell you ? Phil come 
 home and you here to nurse him ! " 
 
 " Yes yes, I know. 'Tis more than I deserve," said 
 Betta, drying her eyes. 
 
 " "Well, go in and show yourself, then, 'twill cure him at 
 
 once." 
 
 " I will go ; my place is there, and my happiness. But, 
 Miriel, I will not let him know 'tis I am nursing him. I 
 can hide in that dark room, and my voice is very like 
 yours. No, not until he is asking for me, and until I am 
 sure he is wanting me in his heart and is tired of his 
 wanderings." 
 
 " Oh, go, lass ! " said Miriel, rather impatiently. " Go, 
 and be thankful ! If I were in thy place I would fly to him 
 and kiss his poor bruised face." 
 
 "Well, indeed," said Betta, smiling through her tears, 
 " 'tis wonderful how little we know ourselves ! / am quite 
 certain you would not forgive before you were asked ! " 
 That was what she was longing to do, but instead she went 
 quietly into the room and took her place by the bedside. 
 Carefully lifting a corner of the blind, she looked at the 
 head where the brown locks tipped with gold were once 
 more beginning to curl. She saw the mouth with it?
 
 storm Beaten 289 
 
 curves of beauty was uninjured, although a deep scar 
 crossed the cheek and upper lip. She looked at the brown 
 hands, now lying inert and blanched upon the coverlet, and 
 wondered could it be that the inner man of Philip Vaughan 
 was as much changed as his outward appearance. 
 
 " All things are possible with God," she thought, and a 
 throb of hope sj)rang up within her.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE END OF THE STORM 
 
 Next day Betta sat in the shaded room as usual, near the 
 window, where the raised corner of the blind let in a gleam 
 of light, and where she was out of Phil's sight. 
 
 " Miriol," he said, " I shall be more thankful to get rid 
 of the bandage than to get up even." 
 
 " Yes, I am sure, but you will have to wear a green 
 shade for some time." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose," and after a pause he began again, — • 
 
 '* You have been kind to me, Miriel — I can never repay 
 you ; and your voice is so gentle, it soothed me to sleep 
 when I was at my worst ; but 'tis making me very sad 
 too." 
 
 " Very sad, Phil bach f " 
 
 " Yes, because 'tis very like another voice that I am 
 longing to hear. Oh, Miriel ! 'tis Betta's, my wife's ! You 
 do not ask me what has become of her. How can I tell 
 you the truth ? — I deserted her — I left her alone in a large 
 town, and sailed away to the bright, warm countries where 
 she wanted to go, but I wouldn't take her with me. Do 
 you hear, Miriol 1 I have been as cruel as that. You are 
 crying ; I hear you trying to choko your sobs. Think, then, 
 how she must have cried, as Mi's Roberts told me she did, 
 neglected and alone. And I have worse to tell you — I took 
 Jinny Ffowkes away with me and her father and aunt. 
 They wanted a trip up the Mediterranean (Mr Ffowkes 
 owned nearly the whole of the Sea Gull), so I could not 
 
 2QO
 
 XTbe lenb of tbe Storm 291 
 
 well refuse, but I was mad with folly and Jinny's flirta- 
 tions, I don't want to blame her, but 'tis a real truth, 
 that a good woman helps to turn a man's heart to good, but 
 a foolish woman leads him to evil. 
 
 "John Owen, the mate on board the Sea Gull, was a 
 good man, one in a hundred, and from tliis neighbourhood 
 somewhere. He had seen Botta with me — on our first trip 
 after we were married — and he always looked black at Jinny 
 Ffowkes, and many a time, sitting on the deck together, he 
 spoke to me, and blamed me sore ; and though I cast off 
 his advice and closed my ears to his words, they used to 
 sting me and cut into my heart. 
 
 "The sky was full of stars, the sea whispering around 
 us, the wind was sighing in the rigging, and many a night 
 like that Betta had stood with me looking over the sea, and 
 I felt sometimes, great big man as I was, that I could cry 
 like a child, and call her name out to the stars and the 
 wind, and then a laugh or a joke with Jinny Ffowkes, or a 
 glass with her father, or a quarrel with her old aunt, would 
 hearten me up again, and I was comforting myself all the time 
 with the thought of returning to Liverpool at the end of the 
 voyage, and of finding Betta waiting for me there. I had left 
 money for her, so I tried to strangle the fears that would rise 
 in my heart, and to shut out the picture of her pale, reproach- 
 ful face. But I would not stoop to tell the mate. I wish 
 now I had, poor fellow. But why am I calling him that 1 
 'Tis all right with him, wherever he is. 'Tis I am the ' pwr 
 fellow,' left here a wreck, not knowing what has become of 
 Betta. What use is it to tell you how broken-hearted I 
 was when Mrs Roberts told me she was gone, and gave me 
 the key of her box? There was every little ribbon and 
 present I ever gave her, but not a word of good-bye. How 
 could I expect it ? 'Twas a dreadful time I lived through 
 then — roaming about those streets in search of her, looking 
 over the docks into the dark water, and wondering — was 
 she there? I hated the thought of Jinny Ffowkes, her
 
 292 ®n tbe Mings of tbe Minb 
 
 flirting ways, and her flat singing, but I went there one 
 day to see could I hear anything of Betta, and the servant 
 told me she had been there. Then I went to the owners, 
 and found she had been there to ask where I was gone, but 
 had taken no money ; and then, Miriel, I was mad with 
 grief, and thought I would come down here, and this is the 
 end of my voyage ! I did not expect to find her here, for I 
 knew she would not dare to face lago, but I longed to see 
 you, her friend, and confess all to you." 
 
 " But are you sure, Phil bach, that you truly love her, 
 and want to find her, and that you would not grow tired 
 of her again? Perhaps it was not all your fault, for 
 'tis a high spirit Betta has got and a shocking 
 temper ! " 
 
 "Shocking temper 1 No — not even you shall say that 
 of her, Miriel, I cannot bear it. No woman was ever 
 tried so much — I out all day, spending my time with 
 Jinny Ffowkes, and she at home by herself, in dull, small 
 lodgings ; and yet 'twas a smile on her face and a kind 
 word when I went in. Do I want her, you say 1 Oh, 
 anw'l ! cure me, let me walk once more, and I will search 
 for her over the world till I find her, and show her 
 what real love is, poor thing ! she has never known it 
 yet, for I was a selfish brute, even in my love," and 
 with the bitter pangs of unavailing remorse he groaned 
 and turned restlessly on his pillow. 
 
 Betta stood pale and trembling in the shadow of the 
 curtain, overcome by the tumultuous feelings that his 
 words had stirred within her. Was it a dream 1 or was 
 Miriel indeed right, and was the spring restoring to her 
 the light and happiness which she thought she had lost 
 for ever 1 
 
 She turned to the window, and deliberately drew aside 
 the curtain. Then returning to the bed, and casting aside 
 the slight accent with which, since their recognition of 
 Phil, she had been careful to disguise her voice, she said,
 
 trbc iSnJ> of tbc Storm 293 
 
 in a tone whose tenderness alone was a confession of love — 
 " Doctor Dan says you may have more light to-day. 
 Phil ! what is the first sight you would like to see ? " and 
 she stood in the full shaft of light, with a look of pas- 
 sionate love in her eyes, and a trembling smile on her lips, 
 which must have awakened him had he been asleep ! 
 
 "Oh, you know," he said, "what is the first sight and 
 the last I want to see ! " and, turning his shaded eyes to 
 the light, he saw, and recognised her with a cry of joy, 
 which Miriel, working in the sunny border outside, heard 
 through the open window ; heard and understood. Raising 
 herself from her stooping position, she looked out to sea, 
 where the waves were dancing in the spring sunshine. 
 Her grey eyes were suffused with happy tears as she 
 listened to the murmuring voices within. " Oh, there's 
 joy for Betta at last," she said, " and indeed it has come to 
 her as we used to sing all together : — 
 
 •"On the wings of the wind he is coming to me.'" 
 She hummed the refrain to herself as she went on working, 
 and Betta's happy face came for a moment to the window 
 just to say, " It is all true, Miriel : — 
 
 " ' Out of the west, where the wind blows free, 
 My sailor has come to me ! ' " 
 
 It took some time to convince Mali and Stivin that the 
 shipwrecked man was no other than Philip Vaughan. 
 " What ! that scarred face, like a patch-quilt, handsome Phil 
 Vones 1 I don't believe it ! and such a sharp woman as 
 Mali by his bedside all the time, and not know him 1 I 
 won't believe it ! " 
 
 " Know him 1 " said Mali, indignantly. " How would I 
 know him, the blackguard ! Lying there like a corpse, 
 and never saying ' bo ' to anyone, ach y fi ! and me wait- 
 ing on him hand and foot, and his poor wife losing her 
 sleep to watch by him ! But she didn't know him any 
 more than me," she added, with a sudden change of tone,
 
 294 ®n tbe mtUGS of tbe mint> 
 
 for it comforted her to feel that someone else had been as 
 blind as herself, and that one who should have been the 
 first to recognise him. 
 
 " But he tried to keep us all in the dark, you see," said 
 Miriel, soothingly, seeing that Mali's self-esteem had been 
 severely wounded. " Afraid he was to tell us who he was, 
 knowing how he had led Betta to deceive us all, and then 
 left her to fight the world alone ! " 
 
 " Well, 'twas no wonder he was ashamed indeed, and I 
 didn't know Phil Vone could be ashamed of anything ! " 
 said Mali. 
 
 " He is changed," Miriel hastened to say ; " oh, yes, 
 indeed, he is changed ! " 
 
 "Well," said Mali, not yet pacified, "if his inside is as 
 much changed as his outside, that'll do ! " 
 
 " There's glad Betta is ! " 
 
 " Betta 1 Has she forgiven him ? Well, the little fool ! 
 I would have made him eat humble pie for a year, and then 
 I'd have thrown it in his teeth at every chance ! " 
 
 " I think he is sore afraid of thee ! " said Miriel, diplo- 
 matically. 
 
 " And well he may be, the villain ! Let me go and give 
 him a bit of my mind ! " and she flounced into the penisha 
 with every sign of anger in her face and manner. 
 
 " Let her alone," said Stivin, with a wink, and Miriel 
 took his advice, and remained with him in the penisha, 
 while Mali entered the bedroom with a firm patter of un- 
 shod feet. 
 
 "Well, Phil Vone ! " she said, "you have made fools of 
 us ! Tan i marw ! you are the first man that has ever 
 deceived me / " 
 
 "Mali, woman!" said Phil, "forgive me if thee canst! 
 I have been sore afraid of thee ! " and he stretched out his 
 thin hand towards her. 
 
 " Afraid of me, 'machgeni ! " said Mali, grasping his 
 hand in both her own, " afraid of Mali Storrom ? the
 
 Uhc BuC) ot the Storm 295 
 
 greatest sinner in Wales ? Come you ! We'll soon have 
 you well now. You are to get up to-day, and there's 
 happy we'll all be together on the hearth once more. 
 Anw'l ! if I had known you I would have been more tender 
 to you, man." 
 
 "No, no, Mali, thee couldst not be that." 
 
 '* Well, how would I know you with no hair on your 
 head and a lot on your chin 1 " She surreptitiously dried 
 her eyes with her apron, and when Betta entered soon 
 after she was fussing about the room, shaking up the 
 pillows and smoothing the coverlet. 
 
 " There's happiness for thee, 'merch i ! " she said. " We'll 
 have him ' olreit ' in no time. Will I go and tell lago 1 
 There's glad he'll be ! " 
 
 Betta looked frightened at this sudden proposal, but 
 Phil answered quietly, " Yes, go, MaH ; and tell him I am 
 begging him to come and speak to me." And waiting for 
 no further permission Mali ran out into the kitchen, where 
 Stivin waited for her. 
 
 "Well! Didst cut off his head?" he asked, with a 
 chuckle, which exasperated Mali so much that she only 
 flung an " Old fool ! " at him as she passed out to the 
 porch, where Miriel was feeding her pigeons. 
 
 " Going to fetch lago I am. Phil wants to see him at 
 once," she exclaimed, slipping her feet into her wooden 
 shoes, and before Miriel had time to stop her, she was 
 running up the slope with all speed ; and finding lago in 
 his " study," she blurted out her sensational bit of news 
 with every sign of delight. When soon afterwards he 
 entered Doloer he looked pale and stern, his lips hard 
 pressed ; and Miriel trembled lest he might refuse his for- 
 giveness to Phil. 
 
 Entering, he passed Betta in the doorway. "Phil 
 wished me to go," she explained, and lago entered the 
 room alone. 
 
 "Oh, I hope he won't be very hard, Miriel!" she
 
 296 ©u tbe Wiims of tbe Min^ 
 
 said. "I wish you were there. You can soften every- 
 
 one." 
 
 Miriel shook her head. " 'Tis very stern lago is, indeed, 
 when anyone has done wrong, but I think he will forgive 
 when he sees how repentant poor Phil is," she said. " Yes, 
 and when he remembers what he has suffered." But still 
 they waited anxiously, while from the inner room the 
 murmur of voices showed that the conversation was at 
 least calm and quiet. 
 
 At last, when a full hour had gone by, Betta became 
 impatient, and was on the point of going in to see what 
 had transpired, when the door opened, and, framed in the 
 arched doorway, the two brothers appeared. Both were 
 looking very grave, though lago's sternness was a good 
 deal softened by the protecting anxiety with which he 
 watched and guided his brother's difficult progress. Both 
 too, were pale, the one from the strong emotion through 
 which ho had just passed, the other with the pallor of 
 weakness. 
 
 There were exclamations of surprise and delight from 
 the two girls. 
 
 " Oh, anw'l ! Phil ! and dressed to ; well, indeed ! " and 
 they would fain have carried him across to the hearth, 
 where Gwen's chair awaited him. 
 
 " Miriel's stool for my foot, and this grand cushion for 
 my head ! " said Phil, trying to hide his emotion and 
 weakness with a laugh. " You forget I am a rough 
 sailor." But though he demurred a little, he was glad 
 enough to lean back and rest his head on the bright 
 patchwork cushion. 
 
 While they were busily engaged in settling the invalid 
 into his chair. Doctor Dan entered. 
 
 "Ah, ha!" he said, "I thought I would find you up, 
 having once given you permission ! No need to ask," he 
 said, looking at Betta, " whether you have found him out ! " 
 
 "I have made a clean breast of it, doctor," said Phil,
 
 Ube BnD ot tbe Storm 297 
 
 " and I wish now I had taken your advice, and done so 
 
 sooner." 
 
 "You knew then, doctor?" said lago and Betta in a 
 breath. 
 
 " Yes, I have guessed it all along, from some words he 
 spoke one day when he was in great pain ; and as soon as 
 his eyes were well enough for me to look straight into 
 them, I was sure of my man ! " 
 
 ^ Yes, I am your man, indeed, sir," said Phil, seriously, 
 "and I only hope, if I live, you will not be ashamed of me. 
 I know I have been a coward lately, but, in my deed ! 
 though I am as fearless as anyone in a storm, I was as 
 frightened as a chicken of Miriel and Mali Storrom, and 
 especially of lago. If I had known Betta was here too, I 
 would have been worse, and never have summoned courage 
 to make myself known." 
 
 " You will soon be well now," said Doctor Dan. " I am 
 quite proud of your face, or my face shall I call it 1 'Twas 
 no wonder we did not recognise you at first, for your head 
 was like a map of the globe, and your face but little 
 better." 
 
 "Yes, I'll do to stand in the garden and frighten the 
 crows, for I will never go to sea again, and I will want 
 something to do at home," said Phil. 
 
 " Oh ! " said the doctor, " you will soon have quite as 
 many good looks as you need to have. You had more than 
 your share before, you know." 
 
 " This little woman says she will put up with me as I 
 am, whatever ! " said Phil, looking at Betta. 
 
 " Yes, I expect she will ; and I don't think I need come 
 and see you again unless you send for me ; you are on the 
 high road to health and happiness now." 
 
 "Yes," said lago, "my brother and I have settled all 
 our plans in this last hour ; there is plenty of room at 
 Hafod, and Phil is the eldest. I will be very glad to have 
 more time for my books."
 
 298 ®n tT)e Mfnas of tbe Mint) 
 
 " I have no doubt you will all be very liappy ! " said 
 Doctor Dan, with a little bitterness in his voice, which, 
 however, no one detected. 
 
 "As usual," he continued, "I have several other places 
 to go to, so I will wish you good-day." 
 
 " Not before I have said a word of thanks," said Betta, 
 grasping his hand ; " but no, I cannot say what I mean." 
 
 "Twt, twt," said Doctor Dan, waving his hand as he 
 reached the doorway. He glanced round the cosy old room 
 as if in search of something. The flames leapt up on the 
 hearth, the old clock ticked in the corner, but the familiar 
 blue figure with the eyes of grey was missing. 
 
 Indeed, it had become very much a habit of Miriel's 
 latterly to absent herself on the occasions of the doctor's 
 Wsits. Why, she could not have explained, but the formal 
 greeting and professional manner grated upon her, and as 
 soon as she saw the swinging gig begin its descent down 
 the moor, she found some excuse for leaving the house. 
 Kit or Brythen had strayed, the herb bed wanted weeding, 
 or the tide was just right for crab hunting] 
 
 When Doctor Dan rejoined Deio at the gate, he paused 
 a moment, for, at the farthest end of the shore, he saw a 
 stooping figure, with bare feet and yellow hair, and knew 
 it was Miriel, but, as if suddenly coming to some decision, 
 he stepped into the gig, and Deio drove away silently. 
 
 When, a short time afterwards, Miriel entered the house, 
 she found two of her guests immersed in " business " — Phil, 
 loaning back in his chair, and dictating a letter to the 
 "owners" of the unfortunate ASca GuU,wlnch lago was writing 
 for him, while Betta hovered about the hearth with a smile 
 on her lips and a light of calm happiness in her eyes, which 
 showed the old disquiet had departed, Phil's eyes following 
 her movements with a loving tenderness. He had dis- 
 carded the beard, which had helped so much to hide his 
 identity, and the moustache, which the doctor had been 
 obliged to get rid of, was growing again, so that he looked
 
 TLbc Bnb of tbe Storm 299 
 
 tnore like the Phil of old than he had done for the last 
 month. Betta had drawn down a lock of his brown hair 
 to hide the scar on hia forehead too, but that across his 
 cheek, as well as his lameness, alas ! he would have to carry 
 with him all his life. 
 
 "Look at her, Miriel," he said, imprisoning Betta's lov- 
 ing fingers, " she's trying to hide my ugliness, but she never 
 will. You must all take me as I am now, and if Betta 
 doesn't mind, I don't." 
 
 " Well, in my deed ! " said Stivin, unceremoniously burst- 
 in upon them, "here's a happy company! The old Sea 
 Gull behaved well in one thing, whatever, no blame to her, 
 she brought you to your own home." 
 
 "Poor old Sea Gull," said Phil, with a more thoughtful 
 look than had ever been seen on his face while he had been 
 her captain, "she's lying low enough under those blue 
 waves to-day." 
 
 "Oh, stop a bit!" said Stivin, "make no mistake, my 
 lad ! She^s not at the bottom of the sea, not she. She's 
 going off in fine style, with fireworks to mark her going ! " 
 and he pointed his fat brown finger at the fire of driftwood 
 which was spluttering and blazing up the chimney with a 
 shower of sparks. "Come you out to the shed," he added, 
 if you want to see the rest of her ! " 
 
 "Is that her end, indeed, indeed?" said Phil, laughing, 
 for it was not in his nature to be serious long. " Well," he 
 added, " let her go, and a fair wind to her ! I've had 
 enough of her. lago, lad, what sort of a farmer will I 
 make ? for it will be hey for the cornfields and the hay- 
 fields with me now ! " 
 
 And, oh ! what a happy time those days of convalescence 
 brought him, and not to him only, but to lago and Betta 
 also. Miriel alone, although she was outwardly as blithe 
 as any of them, carried about with her a sense of something 
 missing. 
 
 As the days passed on, too, the old harmonies once more
 
 300 ®n tbe Timings of tbe Mln^ 
 
 filled the house, for every evening lago came down from 
 Hafod, and glees and choruses were sung again, even the 
 "Wind Song," as Phil called it, although Betta had shrunk 
 a little, saying, " Ach y fi, not that ! " remembering the 
 pain the hearing of it had once brought her. Phil's less 
 sensitive memory recalled nothing of that little episode. 
 " Why not? " ho said. " 'Tis the jolliest song of them all ; " 
 and Betta, of course, had acquiesced, and joined her rich 
 contralto in the chorus : — 
 
 "Sailing, sailing, over the salt sea foam, 
 
 Out of the west, where the wind blows free, 
 My sailor is sailing home ! " 
 
 If Stivin Storrom had been dissatisfied with the winter's 
 tameness, he had no reason to be so with the spring, for in 
 spite of the promise of opening bud and blossom, the season 
 was remarkable for its succession of storms, and it was 
 difficult to realise that it was April. If a week's balmy 
 weather tempted Miriel to trim up her flower bed, a two 
 days' storm from the north-west came sweeping over the 
 lone shore, shrivelling her simple flowers into unsightly 
 blackness. Then came the brilliant sunshine again, when 
 every blade of grass glistened and trembled, and every 
 spray and blossom swayed in the soft breeze. 
 
 On one 8uch»day Betta and Phil took their final de- 
 parture from Doloer. It was a day of blue and white 
 skies, a day of dewdrops and sunshine, and Phil whistled a 
 merry tune as ho planted his crutches firmly on the hedge 
 opposite the window before starting. "Let them be there 
 till they take root, Miriel!" he said, "they will remind 
 you of me ; but you won't have a chance to forget us, for 
 we'll be down most evenings for a tune and a chat." 
 
 "Yes, and I don't think Betta and I will ever spend a 
 whole day without meeting," said Miriel; "but wait you 
 till Stivin and Mali come home from Porthlidan. He'll
 
 Ubc JBnt) of the Storm 301 
 
 soon have your crutches down, and turn them into spoons 
 and Jadlos." 
 
 lago had sent the car down, but Phil insisted upon 
 walking "to show his lame leg was as good as the other," 
 he said, so the car bore only Betta's "box," which had 
 seen so many vicissitudes, and which she was now 
 delighted to see borne with due honour to Hafod, and 
 deposited with due respect as " the mestress's box " in the 
 " preacher's room." 
 
 It was a merry parting ; but, truth to tell, when Miriel 
 looked round the old living-room after they were gone, and 
 peeped into the little inner room where Betta and she had 
 watched so anxiously beside the unknown sailor, she felt 
 their absence would leave a great void in her life. The 
 old clock still ticked in the corner, the pigeons still cooed 
 on the roof, and the bees still hummed in the garden, but 
 the charm of human companionship was missing. 
 
 Mali and Stivin " popped in " as often as ever to see her, 
 and the evenings were bright with music and laughter, 
 but for the first time in her life Miriel's gaiety flagged a 
 little, and she began to realise that her life was lonely and 
 that old Doloer could be dull and gloomy. 
 
 One evening, in the twilight, she walked alone at the 
 edge of the tide, the sea glistened in the soft grey light, 
 the waves scarcely whispering as thoy fell. All was calm 
 and serene, and quite in keeping with the scene, a grey 
 figure approached through the dusk. 
 
 It was lago, who had been sitting in his hayloft study, 
 to which Phil and Betta's presence on the hearth had 
 once more banished him. A pile of papers lay before him, 
 which had been sent for his perusal and criticism. He 
 had worked hard at them, until, raising his eyes from his 
 task, he had seen Miriel pacing up and down the darken- 
 ing shore. Then he had laid aside his pen and had fallen 
 into a brown study, whilst the horses munched their hay 
 beneath him, and sometimes the dragging of a chain or the
 
 302 ®n tbe mims of tbe Min& 
 
 stamping of a hoof had broken the stillness ; but having 
 seen Miriel he was unable to settle down to work again, 
 so he had taken his way down the slope to the sandy shore. 
 
 Her face brightened as she saw him approach, for lago's 
 presence had for everyone a soothing influence, though he 
 could be stern and hard enough when occasion required. 
 
 " lago ! " " Miriel ! " said both together ; " here is a 
 beautiful evening ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Miriel, looking up to the sky between the 
 Hafod chimneys. " Do you see the moon like a silver boat 
 up there ? " 
 
 "Yes, and I can see its reflection in your eyes," he 
 answered. 
 
 " Have you been writing poetry to-day, then ? " she said 
 mischievously. 
 
 "No, but I have been reading it, or* what they call 
 poetry ! I have been asked to attend the National 
 Eisteddfod, and I think I will go." 
 
 "Are you sending in anything yourself?" 
 
 " No. It is as adjudicator that I am invited." 
 
 " Oh, lago ! You are getting so grand. There's proud 
 we are of you ! " 
 
 "Well, indeed, / am proud to hear those words from 
 you, Miriel. Only one little word I could wish altered. 
 If you could only say ' I ' instead of ' we ' ! But there, I 
 have promised not to press you," he added hastily, as he 
 saw a look of vexation on her face, "and I won't; only 
 remember, lass, that my love is always lying at your feet, 
 if you will only stoop and pick it up. Now, are you 
 angry because I have broken my promise so far?" 
 
 " Not angry," said Miriel, standing still a moment, and 
 looking up at the crescent moon — lago looking at the two 
 little moons in her eyes— "not angry, indeed, but sorry, 
 lago, and unhappy I am that some things can't be, and 
 that is one of them. We cannot force our hearts, or else 
 I would indeed ! "
 
 XTbe Eitb of tbc Storm 303 
 
 "No, true," said her companion, "we cannot, and that I 
 know too well." 
 
 They turned and walked thoughtfully at the water's 
 edge, and there was a long pause in their conversation, 
 during which both followed the bent of their own thoughts. 
 
 "Well," he said at last, in an altered tone of voice, "I 
 have not yet asked you my question. Will you come with 
 us to the fair at Tragarreg next week? Phil and Betta 
 are going." 
 
 "No," she said, shrinking a little, "I would rather not 
 go to Tregarreg." 
 
 " I thought you liked the old town so much, Miriel, and 
 the castle; we could spend half the day there if you 
 Hked." 
 
 " I don't know, indeed, what I like, and what I don't 
 like, lago. There's fooHsh I am ! — I want only to be 
 quiet at home, and yet it is lonely at Doloer sometimes." 
 
 "Yes, it must be lonely sometimes; but you are not 
 foolish, Miriel. There are times when life seems dull and 
 uninteresting." 
 
 "I will be at Merthyr several days. Phil and Betta 
 will come to meet me at Tregarreg on the fair day, and I 
 did not like to feel you would be left here alone all the 
 time." 
 
 "You are kind, lago, oh ! so kind to me ! " 
 
 " Nonsense 1 " said lago. " I think Phil's illness and all 
 the storms we have had this spring have shaken you, and 
 you are not well, Miriel. Perhaps you are right, and the 
 old sea and the quiet shore will be best for you. I will 
 come down and tell you all about the Eisteddfod as soon 
 as I come back. Will I call at Hendyrafon and tell 
 Doctor Dan to come and see you? Indeed, I think you 
 are not well." 
 
 " lago ! " said Miriel, frightened. " No, no, no ! Promise 
 me you will not do that — oh, promise mo ! " 
 
 " Caton pawb ! I promise," he said, laughing, and Miriel
 
 304 ®n tbe warns ot tbe M(n& 
 
 joined in the laugh with such light, ringing tones, that 
 Ia2;o himself thought he had made a ridiculous proposal. 
 
 "Oh, dear — dear!" she said, laughing again and again. 
 "Miriel Lloyd ill, and sending for a doctor; oh, indeed, 
 there's silly it would be ! " Then, becoming suddenly 
 serious, she said, " No, lago ; I am quite quite well, and you 
 won't see me so bad-tempered again ; as Stivin says, * Jar i, 
 not mo ! ' " and from that moment every trace of disturb- 
 ance disappeared from her, and she was as charming and 
 bright a companion as a beautiful girl can be, who is 
 endowed with a full share of natural good sense and 
 refinement of feeling. 
 
 "The night is getting more and more beautiful," she 
 said. 
 
 " Yes," said lago, " one need not be much of a poet to 
 see how the soft greys are turning to blue and silver ! And 
 those languid wavelets ! don't they seem to whisper, Peace ! 
 Peace ! Peace ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; and they make us ashamed to be cross 
 and restless." 
 
 " Cross and restless ! You, Miriel ! " 
 
 They continued to walk slowly backwards and forwards 
 on the shore, until the advancing tide drove them nearer 
 the slope, where, seeing a light in the window at Doloer, 
 Miriel said, — 
 
 " Betta and Phil are there, and she has lighted a candle. 
 Let us go in and sing, lago, that pretty new glee," and, 
 turning homewards silently together, they left behind them 
 a scene of beauty and calm, the memory of which one of 
 them, at least, was to carry with him as long as life should 
 last.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 COUNTRY GOSSIP 
 
 It was market day at Tregarreg, and the whole scene spoke 
 of life and movement. Had you been carried there with 
 your eyes closed and been deposited in the market-place, 
 you might have known that you were in a Welsh market 
 as distinguished from an English gathering of the same 
 nature. The clattering of tongues, the unconstrained laughter 
 which mark a concourse of Welsh country people, were at 
 their height, for it was spring-time, when the buying and 
 selling always seems to partake of the awakening zest and 
 energy of the season. The seed stalls were crowded, and 
 the live fowls, tied up by the legs in pair or bunches of 
 three, added much to the din by their shrieks and scuffles. 
 Even the snow-white clouds above them were alive and 
 moving, chasing each other across the fields of vivid April 
 blue, but no one noticed them in the busy street, so 
 absorbed were they in their chaffering and bargaining. 
 
 "'Tis a fine day whatever," said Tim Scrivenwr, standing 
 at his door and looking round in search of someone with 
 whom he could converse in English ; but seeing no one, he 
 contented himself with muttering in his native tongue, 
 " Never saw such weather. One day 'tis summer, and the 
 next 'tis winter, but mostly winter." 
 
 Winter or summer, storm or sunshine. King Dai never 
 failed to appear in the market-place at his accustomed time 
 and to deposit his little crooked burden at the usual corner. 
 U 305
 
 3o6 ®n the Minos of tbc *caln^ 
 
 He had done so this morning, and she was sitting on her 
 oak stool, surrounded by her usual array of pincushions. 
 A red-haired countrywoman was standing beside her, 
 taking advantage of the bit of news which she had to im- 
 part to sort over the pincushions before she expended her 
 penny. She would have been called to order long before 
 had not Peggi Doll been more than usually interested in 
 her gossip. 
 
 ** Well, tell again," she said, " did you see them 
 yourself ? " 
 
 "Yes, b'tshwr, I saw them with my own two eyes, and 
 I asked a man whose wedding it was, because I wasn't very 
 near, and he told me. He said 'twas full time for them to 
 marry, too, for people had been giving them to each other 
 for a long time." 
 
 "Aren't they afraid of Matti Lloyd's ghost, I wonder?" 
 said Peggi. 
 
 " Ach y fi ! I don't know," said the red-haired woman, 
 " but they do say she walks." 
 
 " Do they I And no wonder ! " said Peggi, with a 
 chuckle. 
 
 "Yes, indeed. On Traethunig* in the twilight. No 
 one would care to cross those sands after nightfall for fear 
 of meeting her and Silvan Vone. And let me tell you ! I 
 was crossing at the top of the slope one night going to 
 Pant-du I was with my shoes to be mended ; " and holding 
 up an impressive finger she finished her conversation in a 
 whisper. 
 
 "Thou'rt an old fool," said Peggi, "to be frightened by 
 a shadow, but the same time I wouldn't wonder if she did 
 walk. Come, then," she added suddenly, seeing that the 
 woman had no further news to give her, "which of them is 
 it to be, the red or the green ? Theo'st been long enough 
 making up thy mind." 
 
 "The red," said the woman, startled into a sudden de- 
 • The lonely shore.
 
 Country 6ossip 307 
 
 cision, which she repented of as soon as she had paid her 
 penny, but too frightened to confess her change of mind 
 she bade Peggi Doll a hurried good-bye and pocketed her 
 purchase. 
 
 It was a pleasant beginning of the dtiy for Peggi, and as 
 a naerchant looks about for a good investment for his gains, 
 so she peered around in search of a suitable person to whom 
 to impart the information she had gained. 
 
 "The very man," she thought as Doctor Dan came in 
 sight round the corner, and she crooked her finger at bim, 
 and called, " Hey, doctor," as he approached, but he did 
 not hear her, or perhaps was illustrating the truth of the 
 proverb that " None are so deaf as those who won't hear," 
 for he had a deep-rooted aversion to the spiteful little pin- 
 cushion maker, in spite of the fact that he found his most 
 interesting patients amongst the lame, the halt and the 
 blind. It is affirmed by some people that every human 
 body is surrounded by an "Aura" of its own, exercising a 
 pleasant or unpleasant influence upon those with whom it 
 comes in contact, and Doctor Dan certainly felt as if his 
 Aura and Peggi's were not in accord. He would never 
 have treated her unkindly, but satisfied himself with avoid- 
 ing her whenever he could. She would not have succeeded 
 in arresting his attention on this occasion, had not a burly 
 farmer accosted him and stopped him exactly in front of 
 Peggi's bright array. Here was her opportunity, and she 
 did not hesitate to seize it literally, by clutching at his 
 coat and tugging at it sharply, when she saw the farmer 
 had come to an end of his complaints and the doctor was 
 about to pass on. 
 
 A decided and sharp expletive escaped him as he felt the 
 sudden check to his progress, and he hastily shook off Peggi 
 Doll's clawing fingers. 
 
 " What is it, woman 1 " he said impatiently. " You are 
 well, I see, and King Dai the same. I have no time to 
 waste."
 
 3o8 m tbe "MinQQ ot tbe Timing 
 
 " Stop a bit, did you see that woman that was speaking 
 tome?" 
 
 "Not L I saw no woman. And what if I did ?" 
 
 " D'ye know why she was so late coming to town ? She 
 stopped on the road, idle hussy, and near Glanberi Church 
 it was, and there was a wedding come out of church." 
 
 But the doctor was becoming restive. "Well, I can't 
 stop to-day," he said. 
 
 "Only a minute," said Peggi. "Whose wedding d'ye 
 think it was ? Why, lago Vone and Miriel Lloyd's. There 
 for you. There's a nice bit of news Peggi Doll gives you 
 this morning ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! " 
 
 For a moment Doctor Dan was stunned by her news, 
 although he had long been expecting it, and thought he 
 had schooled himself to hear it without flinching. He re- 
 coiled from it, however, and such a change passed over his 
 countenance that Peggi was satisfied. He looked at her for 
 a moment unconsciously, and then pulling himself together 
 said as he turned away, "Well, next time you have some- 
 thing to tell me, say it without touching me." 
 
 " Very well, my lord," said Peggi, sarcastically, and 
 salaaming with a wave of both hands as well as her crooked 
 posture permitted, she sent after him another rasping " Ho ! 
 ho! ho!" 
 
 He heard the harsh laugh as he made his way through 
 the market-place, but with a shrug of his shoulders dis- 
 missed Peggi from his mind, remembering only the words 
 " lago Vone and Miriel Lloyd," and although he could not 
 boast of the accommodating sentiments credited to the 
 ideal, unselfish hero, he was yet able to say as he reached 
 Hendyrafon, " God bless her golden head ; it is no fault of 
 hers that I have been a fool." 
 
 When he entered the old parlour and looked out through 
 the broad casement at the swift-flowing river a flood of 
 thoughts and memories rushed into his mind. True, only 
 twice had Miriel's presence shed its brightness over the
 
 Country 6ossip 309 
 
 place, but what of that ! Had not her image been ever 
 after there ? Had he ever entered the room without pictur- 
 ing her as he had seen her, sitting at the quaint oak table, 
 the snowy cloth and the glistening silver before her, the 
 glow of the sunset light entangled in her yellow hair, the 
 shy, bent face and the grey eyes that opened wonderingly 
 at the new scones around her. 
 
 Dropping into his easy-chair he fell into a deep reverie, 
 in which he recognised the bitter truth that for him hence- 
 forth a light would be quenched, in whose radiance he had 
 sunned himself more than he had been aware of. 
 
 Two hours passed by and still he sat silently dreaming. 
 It was well for him that Betti Luke had not entered the 
 room, for she certainly would have reproved him for what 
 she considered was a bad habit. Patients came and were 
 admitted into the surgery, but Betti, believing him to be 
 in the market, had bade them wait, and had not searched 
 for him in the parlour, so he remained lost in thought 
 while the surgery filled and the morning drew towards 
 noon. 
 
 At length she came bustling in, and he started guiltily 
 as if caught in a crime. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! sir, what are you doing here by yourself, 
 and me thinking you were in the market ? There's John 
 Jones with his arm that he broke, and Kitty Ben Hughes 
 with her bad eye, and Jonathan the Mill's little girl, all 
 covered with smots, waiting for you." 
 
 "Yes, I will come," he said, rising and looking round 
 the room as if to make its acquaintance in its new dress of 
 blank emptiness. Then he went into the surgery, and the 
 arm and the eye and the spots were duly examined, and 
 nobody guessed that under that quiet exterior the doctor's 
 heart held its full share of bitterness and pain. 
 
 " Where's Deio 1 " he asked, as he afterwards sat down 
 to his solitary dinner. 
 
 "Out in the market he has been all the white day," said
 
 3IO ®n tbe Mings of tbe MinO 
 
 Betti Luke, " and now he has come in asking for his dinner 
 as if the world was on fire ; but I have given him a basin 
 of cawl, that will keep him quiet for a bit." 
 
 Although it was rather an exaggeration of Betti's that 
 he had been there all the white day, it was true that Deio 
 had sauntered through the street ; market day being the 
 only day on which his master did not require his services 
 for driving, he was accustomed on that day to take his 
 pleasure in examining the stalls and looking out for old 
 acquaintances. He had encountered Marged Lewis, the 
 red-haired woman, at the seed stalls, where, after pocket- 
 ing her pincushion, she was contemplating a further 
 expenditure. 
 
 " Give me a ha'porth of carrots and a ha'porth of turnips 
 and two penn'orth of leeks. Well, as I was telling, I am 
 shocking late in the market this morning because I 
 stopped to see a wedding coming out of Glanberi Church, 
 lago Vone and Miriel Lloyd of Doloer, pwr Matti Lloyd's 
 niece, you know." 
 
 " What ? " said Deio, who arrived at that moment. 
 "What did you say?" And the whole story was told 
 over again, Deio listening with more outward show of 
 interest than he generally accorded to the country gossip. 
 " Did you see them ? " he asked, with a severely judicial 
 air. 
 
 " Well, yes, of course I saw them. A girl with yellow 
 hair she was, I saw the sun shining on it ; and a young 
 man with black hair and a pale face he was." 
 
 "Hm," said Deio, "there are scores like that about the 
 country." 
 
 "I asked a man that was breaking stones on the road, 
 and 'twas he told me their names. I was about as far as 
 from here to that chapel," said the woman, conscientiously. 
 " I was not by the church door, mind you, so I can't tell 
 you what was her gown made of." 
 
 •* Twt, twt, what do I care what her gown was like ? "
 
 Country (Bossip 3" 
 
 said Deio, ungraciously turning on his heel, and hastening 
 home to Hendyrafon to hurry Betti Luke's preparations 
 for dinner. 
 
 Having given him a bowl of cawl to break the keen edge 
 of his appetite, she was surprised to find that, instead of 
 waiting patiently as usual for further developments, Deio 
 started to his feet when his bowl was emptied, and thrust- 
 ing a formidable junk of bread and cheese into his pocket, 
 had followed her to the parlour door, where ho was now 
 peering over her shoulder. 
 
 «*0h, there you are ! " said his master, "Jones Brindu is 
 in town, and you had better see him about that hay." 
 
 «» I have, sir, and we can fetch it when we like ; " and 
 here he looked round the room as if in search of something, 
 then he drew his hand over his clean rasped chin, then he 
 cleared his throat as if reluctant to break the spell of his 
 usual silence. 
 
 "In Heaven's name what is it, man?" said Doctor Dan 
 a little irritably, for that clawing encounter with Peggi 
 had frayed him not a little. 
 
 "Shall you be wanting Samson sir, this afternoon?" 
 said Deio at last. " If not, can I have the loan of him to go 
 and see my sister ? She has been ill and is wanting to see 
 me shocking." 
 
 "Of course you can," said his master, rising from the 
 table. "What's the matter with your sister?" 
 
 " Well, I dunno, sir, is it a fever, or the rheumatis or 
 flammashwn or what ; " and considering it was full six 
 months since she had recovered from her ailment, it was 
 no wonder he had forgotten its nature ; however he had 
 no scruple in using her name as a peg on which to hang 
 his request for the loan of Samson. 
 
 " Tenky, sir," he said, tugging his forelock and retiring 
 as quickly as possible to avoid being further questioned. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! is that all you are going to eat, sir ? " said 
 Betti Luke, coming in to clear the table. "That comes of
 
 312 ®n tbe Mings of tbe Mint) 
 
 thinking like you were before dinner — ach y fi ! there's 
 nothing worse for the appetite. You going down to the 
 river ? " she added, seeing him take his pipe from the rack • 
 " oh, well, you'll be smoking there, I know, and there's no 
 harm in that, but take you my advice, sir, and don't think." 
 
 "Not a thought, Betti," was his reply as usual; but had 
 she seen him as ho paced the path by the river for the 
 next two hours she would have seen that her master had 
 cast her advice to the winds, and had given himself over 
 to the forbidden luxury. 
 
 Meanwhile Deio and Samson had crossed the bridge 
 and were facing the moorland road which ran in the direc- 
 tion of the sea coast. About three miles from Tregarreg 
 a narrow lane branched off from the road, and about a 
 hundred yards up the lane stood a tiny cottage in which 
 Deio's sister Uved. 
 
 She was washing busily on the stone slab in the yard 
 when Deio appeared, and seemed much astonished at his 
 arrival. 
 
 "Dir anw'l ! where'st come from?" she said, wringing 
 her hands from the soapsuds and drying them on her 
 apron. 
 
 *' Well, going a message for misteer I was, and as thou 
 wast so near I thought I would turn in to see thee." 
 
 "Well, indeed, and that's a wonder," she said, "con- 
 sidering thou art by here so often, and never turning in to 
 see thy sister, born of the same mother ; but there ! we won't 
 quarrel to-day whatever — come and have a cup of tea." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Deio, " there's no time for that, 'merch i. 
 I'm in a hurry, and misteer will be expecting me back." 
 
 " What, not a light for thy pipe even 1 " 
 
 *' No, in my deed I have no time ; but I'll come again 
 soon. Good-bye, Shan fach, I am glad to see thee well. 
 Good-bye till I see thee again." ' 
 
 "Next year, I suppose," said Shan, scoffingly ; but Deio 
 was out of hearing, riding fast along the road towards the
 
 Countci? 6ossip 313 
 
 sea. He had reached the spot where Miriel had startled 
 Samson on the day he had first made her acquaintance, 
 and riding a little further he breasted the gap in the bank 
 which still formed the only approach to that lonely shore. 
 A little further on he would have reached the road leading 
 to Hafod, but it was out of his way, and short cuts came 
 naturally to Doctor Dan's driver. He rode slowly down 
 the slope, and tying Samson to the little gate, passed 
 round the garden hedge, behind which he heard Miriel 
 humming as she gathered her daffodils, for once more they 
 were standing in golden groups all over the slope and the 
 gardens. She heard his step in the porch and soon 
 appeared herself, her hands full of the pale Lent lilies. 
 
 " Deio 1 " she exclaimed, when she saw him alone, and a 
 flush rose to her cheek and a little flutter in her breath. 
 
 " What is it, then 1 " she asked. " Is anything wrong 1 " 
 
 " Wrong ? Oh, no ; only I was going to see my sister, 
 and Doloer being so near and we not seeing you for a long 
 time I thought I would turn in to see how you were." 
 
 "I am glad to see you indeed, Deio," said Miriel, relieved 
 of her fears, and delighted to have the opportunity of 
 showing hospitality to one of her old friends from Hendyra- 
 fon. "Sit down, Deio bach," she said, pushing the rush 
 chair towards him on the hearth. 
 
 " Stop a bit while I put Samson in the shed," said Deio, 
 more with the idea of gaining time to settle his " plan of 
 campaign " than with any anxiety for Samson, who was 
 accustomed to wait at many a gate. 
 
 He had enumerated upon his fingers as he rode along the 
 road the four different points upon which he was deter- 
 mined to be definitely enlightened before he returned to 
 Tregarreg, but it would not have suited the astute Deio to 
 ask a plain question and so show his anxiety at once. 
 " I'll go round about a bit," he thought, as Miriel poured out 
 his tea. She, too, had her plans for blinding her guest to the 
 eagerness with which she sought for news of Hendyrafon.
 
 314 ®Ji tbe Minos of tbe Minb 
 
 " If I ask liim about the sick people he will perhaps tell me 
 about — about — oh, all about everything," was her simple 
 expedient. 
 
 " How is Betti 1 " she began. " I am often remembering 
 her kindness to me ! " 
 
 " Yes, she can be very kind when she likes, but wilful, 
 she is — shocking wilful sometimes ! The weather is very 
 bad this spring," he said, " so many storms I don't remem- 
 ber." 
 
 "No, I'm sure. And so much sickness they say," she 
 answered. 
 
 " Oh, sickness," said Deio, who was easily drawn on the 
 subject of his master. "The mishteor has been nearly 
 killed with work, pwr fellow ; going from one house to 
 another from morning to night, and driving miles and 
 miles every day. There's Doctor Jones with nothing to 
 do, but d'ye think they'll send for him 1 No ; 'tis ' Doctor 
 Dan ' is wanted everywhere ! " 
 
 " Well, indeed ! " 
 
 " Many funerals about hero lately ? " asked Deio. 
 
 " Funerals ? No, indeed, not any — " 
 
 " Some weddings, perhaps 1 " 
 
 " No, indeed ! " said Miriel. " There are not many to be 
 buried or married here ! " 
 
 " Oh, come you ! There was a wedding in Glanberi 
 Church this very day ! " said Deio, looking into her face, 
 and noting with satisfaction that she wore no wedding-ring. 
 But even this was not conclusive evidence, as he knew that 
 shy country girls sometimes hid their wedding-rings for 
 days. 
 
 'A wedding ! " she exclaimed, surprised and interested. 
 •' Whose was it, I wonder ■? " 
 
 "You wasn't there, then ? " said Deio. 
 
 " No, I've been at home all day." 
 
 " Well, well ! " said Deio, bringing his horny thumb 
 down on his knees. His first point was settled.
 
 Country (Bosslp 3^5 
 
 " How is Mrs Jones Bryndn 1 " asked Miriel again. 
 
 " Oh, better. Mishteer was there three days ago, but 
 he's not going there so often as he was ; and how 
 are all at Hafodl Philip Vone — is he quite well 
 now 1 " 
 
 " Pretty well he is, but he's having bad headaches some- 
 times since the shipwreck." 
 
 "Well, I'm thinking he wouldn't have a head at all if it 
 wasn't for mishteer ! " 
 
 "No, indeed. He must always be thankful to him. 
 lago is not at home. He is gone to Merthyr, and won't be 
 home till Saturday." 
 
 '* You are missing him shocking, I suppose 1 " 
 
 " Well, yes. He is so kind and so clever, and his poetry, 
 Deio bach, is beautiful ! " 
 
 " Well, well, you'll have a wonderful husband when you 
 marry him ! " 
 
 "Marry him? What are you saying, Deio?" said 
 Miriel, opening her eyes to look at him over her tea-cup. 
 "I told you once before I am not willing for people to 
 settle who I am going to marry. I tell you I'll never 
 marry him." 
 
 "Never?" 
 
 " Never ! " said Miriel, and Deio brought his first finger 
 down beside his thumb. 
 
 " Well, come now," he said, " you mustn't be angry with 
 me, because I'm a stupid old fellow, and I'm hearing it 
 everywhere, so I was thinking 'twas true." 
 
 " It is not, then," she said indignantly. 
 
 " Well, well, you are very wise, 'merch i. 'Tis nice to be 
 your own mistress, and when you get up in the morning to 
 feel you can do what you like all day — no one to call you, 
 or bother you, or walk on the shore with you. There's 
 nice it is ! and you are never feeling dull and lonely in 
 Doloer, like some foolish girls would be?" 
 
 " I'm foolish enough, Deio, and I'm finding Doloer more
 
 3 16 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Minb 
 
 lonely than it used to be ; " and Deio's second finger came 
 down with the others. 
 
 " Oh, that is natural," he said, his face brightening con- 
 siderably, " but you've got Mali and Stivin." 
 
 " Oh, yes, and I don't know what would I do without 
 them. They are gone to Porthlidan to fetch ' siccan ' from 
 the mill." 
 
 "That's it," said Deio ; "they'll be having fine bwdran 
 for supper. I'm always begging Betti for a bowl of 
 bwdran for my supper, and mishteer likes it too, and 
 there's easy to please he is ! never a cross word to Betti 
 nor me, and never a frown on his face." 
 
 " Oh, well, indeed, Deio," said Miriel, laughing, " they 
 say he's looking black enough sometimes." 
 
 *' Black ! The mishteer looking black ! Not at you, 
 'merch i ; I'll take my oath of that." 
 
 " Oh, yes, at me as well as anyone else. Why not, 
 Deio?" 
 
 " Why not ? Well — " and after this he was profoundly 
 silent. 
 
 Miriel's face had flushed as if the sunset light had 
 reached her through the little window, and her heart beat 
 fast. " What did he mean ? " and she waited for some 
 further remark, but Deio remained silent and inscrutable. 
 
 At last the Sphinx opened his lips. "Mishteer is 
 thinking you're going to marry lago Yone." 
 
 " I can't help what he thinks," she said, Avith a toss of 
 her head, and the colour ebbed from her face as quickly as 
 it had flowed. " I'm thinking it's very unkind of him to 
 expect me to marry anyone just to please him," and the 
 keen-eyed Deio detected a suspicious glistening in her eyes 
 and a tremble in her voice, and he brought his third finger 
 down with the others. 
 
 " Are you thinking then, Miriel Lloyd, that that would 
 please mishteer ? Ts-ts ! I knew there was one blind bat 
 in the world, but now I see there are two. Well, well, but
 
 Country 6o6Stp 31 7 
 
 I must go. Jar i, I've been sitting here as if I was on my 
 own hearth." 
 
 In vain she pressed him to have another cup of tea. 
 
 " Not a drop, not a bit," said Deio, who all of a sudden 
 was in a desperate hurry to return to Tregarreg.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 DEIO S FIFTH POINT 
 
 Arrived in his own stable yard at Hendyrafon, Deio 
 exhibited the most unusual signs of excitement. While 
 attending to Samson's requirements, he 'hss'ed and 'com- 
 mopped incessantly, and at last crossed the yard to the back 
 door with determination even in the set of his hat. ,r^ 
 
 Having stepped for once out of the regular grove of his 
 daily routine, his morning's ride seemed to have developed 
 in him a sudden access of energy and spirit. 
 
 He muttered to himself as he crossed the yard, emphasis- 
 ing his words with a side nod, "I'll soon settle this job," 
 and on entering the kitchen door he buttoned up his coat, 
 squared his elbows, and plumped himself down on a chair, 
 placing hia hat on the ground in front of him. 
 
 "Caton pawb ! what's the matter with the man?" said 
 Betti Luke. 
 
 " Nothing's the matter," he said, looking at her defiantly. 
 "There's nothing in the world the matter with me ! " for he 
 was much annoyed at feeling that there was something the 
 matter; a curious catch in his breath, and a strange 
 fluttering in the region of — shall we say his chest?" 
 
 " Oh, I thought thee wasn't well, going away without 
 thy dinner like that. Come ! here's thy supper, good 
 bwdran it is too." 
 
 "I have a question to ask," said Deio, "and an answer 
 to that I must have before I touch my supper. I have 
 been thinking all the way home that the best thing for 
 thee and me is to get married. Dost agree to that ? " 
 
 318
 
 H)eio's fittb point 319 
 
 " Married ! " said Betti, in blank astonishment, " Did ever 
 man hear of such a thing 1 What's the man thinking of 1 " 
 
 "Oh, the man know's what he's about well enough. 
 He's asking the best woman, and the best cawl and bwdran 
 maker in Tregarreg, to marry him. And thou'rt a 'cute 
 woman too, Betti Luke, and I don't believe thee'lt refuse 
 such a good offer. Come, wilt marry me or not 1 " and he 
 stamped his foot impatiently. 
 
 "Well, Bendigedig!" said Betti, flattered though flustered, 
 "I never heard such a thing in my life. Look at thy 
 bwdran getting cold. Come to supper, man, and don't talk 
 nonsense." 
 
 "Yes, it is getting cold," said Deio, with a side glance at 
 the basin, " and bwdran grown cold is spoiled." 
 
 •' Come, then, sit down." 
 
 "Not a bit nor a sup till my question is answered," he 
 said, holding up his little finger ; " the other four are settled 
 to-day — now this one ! " 
 
 "Hast asked four before me then?" said Betti, 
 indignantly. 
 
 " Not wan, Betti Luke ! Never in my life wan before 
 thee, so take me or not before I move from here." 
 
 " We'll see after supper." 
 
 " No, now," said Deio, not even adding the alternative 
 " or never." 
 
 "Well, yes, yes, then," said Betti, "only drink thy 
 bwdran before it gets cold," and without further ado Deio 
 sat down to his supper, and satisfied his hunger before he 
 carried his courtship any further. 
 
 Betti, having made the first plunge, seemed to take to the 
 new state of affairs with great equanimity, and they sat in 
 the cosy, warmly-lit kitchen until nearly midnight settling 
 their future plans and prospects, in which their determina- 
 tion never to leave mishteer and Hendyrafon was a point 
 on which both were in perfect accord. 
 
 Meanwhile the said mishteer was smoking his last pipe
 
 320 ®n tbe Mings ot tbe Minb 
 
 on the moonlit bridge, quite unconscious of the interesting 
 events which his two middle-aged domestics were introduc- 
 ing into his household aflfairs. 
 
 There is something in the sound of a flowing river not 
 only soothing to the senses, but that exercises upon some 
 minds a drowsy, almost a hypnotic influence, bringing 
 before them forms and scenes of the past with a vividness 
 that makes a "river reverie" an insidiously pleasant 
 indulgence. 
 
 This Doctor Dan had known from long experience, and 
 he had often contemplated breaking himself of a habit 
 which had grown upon him year by year, namely, that of 
 spending the last hour of the day in solitary musings, 
 leaning over the bridge that adjoined Hendyrafon, and 
 letting his thoughts flow on with the rush of the waters ; 
 back into the bitter past, forwards into the unknown future, 
 sometimes down to the depths of doubts and fears that lie 
 in wait for such hours of solitude, and sometimes upwards 
 to high and noble aims and aspirations ; for that little 
 embrasure on the bridge was often his study, his counting- 
 house and his oratory. 
 
 '"Tis a foolish habit which I must leave off," he 
 soliloquised as he tapped the ashes out of his pipe on the 
 night of the market day on which Peggi Doll had imparted 
 to him her item of country gossip. Ho had said this a 
 hundred times before, but still to-night he lingered, light- 
 ing yet another pipe and continuing to ponder and to 
 dream. 
 
 Under the arches of the bridge the river flowed in dark 
 shadow, catching, further on, the broad shine of the moon- 
 light, until it was lost again in the gloom of the elms at the 
 bend round the meadows. Looking down at the swirl and 
 the rush of it, how many forms and pictures chased each 
 other through his mind ! how many memories of bitter and 
 sweet ! Of tener than any other, a pale sweet face with a crown 
 of golden hair passed between him and the brown foam-
 
 Beio'5 fitth point 321 
 
 flecked waters, until he lost count of time ; and it was long 
 past midnight when he was aroused by a sound familiar and 
 yet strange. It was like the clump, clump, clump of Peggi 
 Doll's stool, and yet it was impossible, he thought, for her 
 to have crawled so far as the top of the street, where the 
 sound seemed located, and he strained both eyes and ears, 
 gazing up the street, down which the brilliant moonlight 
 streamed, unbroken, except on one side, where the uneven 
 houses cast the shadows of their gables and chimneys. 
 
 Out of their shadow came the clump, clump, clump which 
 had disturbed his dreams. 
 
 Every light was extinguished, every door was closed, and 
 no sound broke the stillness of the moonlit street, except 
 the music of the river, and the mysterious tapping which 
 drew nearer and nearer. 
 
 For a moment Doctor Dan doubted the evidence of his 
 senses, as Peggi herself emerged from the shadow and 
 stopped in front of him. 
 
 Here she cleverly slipped on to her stool, and so over- 
 come was she by her unwonted exertions that for a minute 
 or two she could not speak. 
 
 "Peggi!" he exclaimed in astonishment, "what in 
 Heaven's name has brought thee here ? How didst manage 
 to get so far ? " 
 
 " I don't know," she gasped. 
 
 " What is it, then ? What's the matter ? " 
 
 " The old monument has fallen at last," she said, holding 
 her hand to her side. 
 
 "Dai? Ah! I expected it," said the doctor, and, for- 
 getting everything else in his medical instinct, he turned 
 and began hurrying up the street, but before he had gone 
 may paces a sound caught his ear that made him turn and 
 look at the crippled woman he was leaving behind him. 
 
 She was still sitting on her stool, as if too exhausted 
 to move, and the bright light of the full moon fell on her 
 bowed head. 
 
 X
 
 32 2 ©n tbe Minos ot tbe Mln& 
 
 Again he heard the sound that had arrested his 
 attention, and he saw that Peggi Doll was crying, a short, 
 smothered sob, as of pain or fatigue, probably of both, 
 for she kept her little hand pressed to her side. 
 
 A wave of pity surged through the strong man's heart, 
 and he turned back at once. " If you have been a fool, 
 Dan Griffiths, you need not be a brute ! " he said under his 
 breath, and disappearing for a moment into the open door- 
 way of Hendyrafou he returned quickly, bringing with 
 him a stout walking-stick. 
 
 " Come, Peggi, woman ! " he said, with a tone of pity 
 in his voice. *' You will never get home again at that rate." 
 
 " I will be home some time before the morning," said the 
 cripple, drying her eyes. " Never mind me, go you to Dai 
 and see can you help him ! " 
 
 " I will not leave you to spend the night in this empty 
 street," he said ; and without further parley he lifted her 
 bodily up to a horse block which stood near, and, turning 
 his back to her, he said, " Now, hold fast ! " and Peggi 
 crouched on his broad shoulders, and clutched hold of 
 his coat collar. Then passing the walking stick across his 
 back, and through his crooked elbows, to support her, as he 
 had often seen King Dai do, he caught up her little stool 
 and turned up the broad street once more. 
 
 His rapid strides soon brought him to the lane where 
 the Pwrhouse stood, and as he turned its corner 
 his shrinking dislike of the spiteful little cripple whom he 
 was carrying returned, and he was glad enough on reaching 
 her wretched tenement to slip off his burden as best he 
 could. Peggi crawled to her corner of the hearth, and 
 Doctor Dan looked round the room for King Dai. He was 
 lying upon the bed, as he had fallen, his feet still resting 
 on the earthen floor. 
 
 " Going to bed, I suppose, when he fell 1 " asked the 
 doctor of Peggi, who still sat panting and gasping on her 
 stool by the fire.
 
 H)eio'6 jfiftb point 323 
 
 " Yes, of course ! as you see, 'twas a good thing he did 
 not fall on the floor, because I couldn't help him to rise, and 
 Biddy next door is from home to-day, but she ought to be 
 home by now, the gadabout. There she is ! " she added, as 
 a step was heard in the court, and Biddy looked in at 
 the door, wondering what meant a light so late at Peggi 
 Doll's house. 
 
 "Come in, Biddy, and help me," said the doctor, and 
 together they lifted the heavy feet up to the bed, and did 
 all that was possible for King Dai. There was not much 
 they could do, for the long-threatened ' ' stroke " had fallen, 
 and this was but the beginning of months of living death 
 for him. 
 
 " Dai is not going to leave you yet," said the doctor, 
 Peggi peering up at him anxiously as well as she could 
 from under the frill of her cap. " Who is going to nurse 
 him ? " 
 
 " Biddy will. She'd better ! " she added, as the woman 
 did not answer at once, and she looked at her with a threat 
 in her bright black eyes. 
 
 "Canst, Biddy?" said Doctor Dan. "I'll see that 
 thou'rt paid." 
 
 "That she's paid?" said Peggi, fiercely. "Who by, 
 I'd like to know 1 Do you mean the parish ? Take care, 
 man, or I'll throw my stool at you ! " 
 
 " Well, aim straight if thou dost, Peggi ! " 
 
 " Oh, I can aim straight ! " said the little witch, and she 
 was right, as many a child in the market-place could 
 testify, for she was in the habit of keeping stones tied up 
 in her patches, and throwing them deftly at anyone who 
 annoyed her. 
 
 " I did not mean the parish," said the doctor, " I meant, 
 if you could not afford it, to help you out of my own 
 pocket." 
 
 " Oh, I can pay her ! " said Peggi. " Let her look well 
 after Dai and I'll pay her, and be silent into the bargain,
 
 324 ®n tbe Minos ot the min^ 
 
 but if not I won't pay her and I won't be silent," and she 
 again looked at Biddy with a meaning glance ; but the 
 latter was profuse in her promises. 
 
 " Caton pawb ! I'll do all I can for him, midnight or 
 mid-day," and Peggi nodded approval. " And what's more, 
 I'll take you to the market in Jim Gipsy's donkey cart." 
 
 "That's well," said Peggi. 
 
 " Will I go home for a minute to take off my best gown, 
 and snatch a bit of supper 1 " said Biddy, obsequiously. 
 
 "Yes, go," said the doctor. "I will stay here till thy 
 return ; " and left alone with Peggi he looked around for 
 something to do to while away the time. The sick man 
 lay like an image of stone upon the bed, the dim rushlight 
 scarcely revealed the bare walls, which had never known 
 anything more decorative than whitewash, and that had 
 now flaked and fallen away in patches, but Doctor Dan was 
 at home in such scenes. 
 
 ** A cup of tea would not be amiss for thee, Peggi," he 
 said, and, setting the kettle on the tiny culm fire, he soon 
 had the meal ready, though only in a man's awkward 
 fashion, and setting it before her on a round stool, which 
 he had often seen her use as a table, he sat down on 
 the other side of the hearth and watched her eating, with 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " Dan Griffiths," she said suddenly, and screwing her 
 head round to look at him, " do you ever say your 
 'pador'l" 
 
 "My pader?" said Doctor Dan, startled. "Well, yes, 
 such as it is ! I say my pader to the river ; " and he rose as 
 if to do something for Dai with the natural shrinking of a 
 reticent nature from such personal inquiries. 
 
 "The river?" said Peggi, with a puzzled look into the 
 fire. "Well, if it will do for you, it will do for me, and 
 next time you are saying your pader, there would be no 
 harm if you just mention me. D'ye hear, man?" she 
 added impatiently, finding that the doctor did not answer.
 
 Beto's 3Fittb point 325 
 
 " Yes, thou'rt right, there would be no harm at all ; but 
 thou shouldst pray thyself, or ask some good man to pray 
 for thee, not me ! " 
 
 " Oh, you're good enough for me," said Peggi, " so 
 remember ! I have something else to say before Biddy 
 comes in with her long ears. This morning I gave you a 
 bitter morsel to swallow, and you said, ' Don't touch me 
 again,' but to-night you said, ' Catch hold, Peggi,' and 
 you did for me what no one else at Tregarreg would do, so 
 I will give you some comfort." 
 
 " Twt, twt," said the doctor, brusquely, "it was dark, 
 and there was no one to see. If it had been daylight 
 I would not have done it." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you would," said Peggi, with a chuckle. 
 " You would have done it if the market had been full, and 
 everybody was laughing at you ! I know you better than 
 you know yourself, Dan Griffiths. Here's Biddy coming. 
 Well — although Miriel Lloyd and lago Vone are married 
 to-day, 'tis you she loves, man ! Take that from Peggi 
 Doll ! " 
 
 "And dost think that would be any comfort if it were 
 true?" 
 
 '"Tis all I have to give you, whatever," said Peggi, as 
 Biddy entered, and when they had done all that could be 
 done for King Dai, Doctor Dan left the house promising to 
 come again early next day. 
 
 Startled and astonished at Peggi's words, though in- 
 credulous, he hurried down the silent street. It was two 
 o'clock in the morning, the coldest, dreariest hour of the 
 twenty-four, and a change had come over the night, 
 the moonlight was dimmed, and as he reached Hendyrafon 
 a soughing wind came up the river, a brown haze was 
 creeping over the sky and the silent moon had turned 
 to copper. 
 
 " Another storm coming, I suppose," he thought, but he 
 did not stop to note the signs of the weather, for he was
 
 326 ®n tbe Minas ot tbe Minb 
 
 both fatigued and sleepy, so, turning the key in the heavy 
 front door, he went straight to bed. He had, however, 
 been more affected by Peggi Doll's words than he was 
 willing to confess, and the night was further spent before 
 he at last fell asleep. 
 
 Next morning his gig stood at the door at the usual 
 hour, and Deio and his master were soon after driving 
 rapidly over a good broad road, leading in an exactly 
 opposite direction to the hilly coast road across the 
 bridge. 
 
 '* The market will be strange without King Dai, pwr 
 fellow," said Deio, at last. 
 
 It was seldom that he took the initiative in opening a 
 conversation, and the thought crossed the doctor's mind 
 that he had grown more communicative of late. 
 
 " Yes," he answered ; " we shall never see him there 
 again." 
 
 Deio cleared his throat, coughed several times, and 
 looked about him as he always did when he had something 
 to tell. 
 
 "What is it, man?" said his master, at last. " I know 
 the news, if that is what you are bursting with." 
 
 '« What news ? " said Deio. 
 
 " Why ! that Miriel Lloyd and lago Vaughan are 
 married." 
 
 Deio was never heard to laugh, but now he chuckled 
 wheezily into his fist, his nearest approach to a laugh, 
 then, with a sudden change of expression, he said, in a 
 solemn voice, " Mishteer, 'tis an odd thing! You are a 
 clever man, and I would trust my life to you, but, in my 
 deed, there's soft you are." 
 
 Doctor Dan burst into a fit of laughter. 
 
 " Well, in my deed, Deio," he said, " I believe you are 
 right, and I must open my eyes and see myself as I am, 
 though ' soft ' is an epithet I never thought I should hear 
 applied to me. But why am I soft ? "
 
 Deio's jftttb IPoint 327 
 
 " Well, look you here now ! You and I hear the same 
 bit of news in the market. How do we act ? You take it 
 all to your breast and believe every word of it, and I ride 
 off upon Samson and go straight to Doloer with four 
 questions to ask, and I come home with the truth, 
 mind you." 
 
 "Well," said his master, "allow that you are right, 
 Deio, and that I acted like a fool and you like a wise 
 man. But what did you find at Doloer?" 
 
 " I found my four questions answered plain, and here 
 they are " — and he held up his five fingers and began to 
 count — " Number wan — the lo's fach is not married ; she 
 was at home as quiet as a lamb, and didn't know nothing 
 about the wedding at Glanberi. Well, number two — she 
 will never marry lago Vaughan, never, she said ; and 
 number three — she's not so contented as she used to be 
 at Doloer. Now, number four — she would give lago 
 Yaughan's head for your little finger, sir ! " 
 
 " Is the man mad 1 " said Doctor Dan, turning round to 
 look at him. 
 
 "No," said Deio, with a shrewd wink, "not this man, 
 whatever; perhaps the other man is." 
 
 He had now laid hold of his little finger. 
 
 "Well, number five?" said the doctor, quietly. "Have 
 you any other wonder to tell me ? " 
 
 " Yes, mishteer, the most wonderful of all — I am going 
 to be married ! " 
 
 "What?" said his master. "Good heavens! what do 
 you mean, Deio?" 
 
 " Just that 'tis true, mishteer. I'm going to be married." 
 And Doctor Dan fairly burst into a long and hearty peal 
 of laughter. 
 
 Deio did not laugh, but the twinkle in his eye and the 
 turned-up corners of his mouth required no sound to show 
 bis appreciation of the joke. 
 
 He was not at all offended at his master's hilarity
 
 328 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 Indeed, it was long since Doctor Dan had indulged in 
 such hearty laughter. It was curious how easily it rose to 
 his lips this morning. 
 
 " But where is the woman ? " he asked, at last. 
 
 "Why, Betti Luke, of course!" said Deio. "She's the 
 only woman I ever see, and the best maker of cawl and 
 bwdran in all Wales." 
 
 " Betti Luke ! And how long have you been courting 
 her?" 
 
 "Never, mishteer, on my honour; never till yesterday 
 coming from Doloer ! I thought how foolish you were, 
 sir, and then I thought perhaps I was a fool too, and I 
 made up my mind on the spot. I asked her slap off as 
 soon as I got home. She wanted me to wait a bit for an 
 answer, but I refused to sit down to my supper without it, 
 so she said, 'Well, yes, then,' and so 'twas settled, and 
 there is an end of the matter," and Deio relapsed into his 
 usual silence. 
 
 " Ton my word, you are a wise man, Deio," said his 
 master. " 'Tis the best thing you could do, and the 
 funniest, too, I have heard for a long time ; " and as they 
 drove home he laughed again and again, and Deio chuckled 
 in company. 
 
 On reaching Hendyrafon, Doctor Dan sprang out of the 
 gig. " I must go and see Betti at once," he said; but, on 
 looking round the kitchen, she was nowhere to be seen, and 
 he was about to give up the search when he caught sight 
 of her behind the door, bashfully hiding her face behind 
 the roller towel. 
 
 " Betti, woman, come out and let mo wish thee joy," 
 said the doctor, laughing ; but she would not be persuaded 
 to leave her hiding-place until Deio came in and, not with- 
 out some force, tore her from the roller towel. Doctor 
 Dan's laughter seemed infectious, for the affianced pair 
 joined in it, and it was long since Hendyrafon had echoed 
 to such merriment.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 " 't I S AN ILL WIN D," ETC. 
 
 Next door to Tim Scrivenwr's shop stood an old lop-sided 
 cottage, exhibiting in its front window a fine array of 
 worsted stockings and rolls of scarlet and blue flannel. In 
 the cramped living-room at the back, where a bedstead 
 filled up nearly all the space, sat Doctor Dan. 
 
 The blue and white curtains of coarse linen were drawn 
 aside, revealing a little white face just awakening from a 
 long and critical sleep. 
 
 A little hot hand clutched the doctor's finger, and the 
 young mother, who had watched with him while her 
 darling's feet stood on the edge of that bourne from 
 whence no traveller returns, was weeping with joy and 
 gratitude as she realised that the crisis was past and her 
 child had been restored to her arms. 
 
 Doctor Dan said nothing until he had held the cup of 
 milk to the parched lips, but let her sob on until the over- 
 full heart had relieved itself ; and, turning to him, Nance 
 Powell, in a calmer voice, began to thank him. 
 
 " Oh, sir, how will I ever thank you ? Sitting here all 
 night and watching with me. I can see a difierent look on 
 my beauty boy's face. He will live, sir, thanks to you ; 
 but you are worn out and tired." 
 
 " Twt, twt, no ! " said the doctor ; " a night's watching is 
 nothing to me. I will go home and sleep a few hours. Ah, 
 that's right ! a cup of tea will set us both up," and as she 
 
 329
 
 330 ®n tbe WiinQB of tbe Mln^ 
 
 prepared it, he drew the window curtain and looked out, 
 while the little one fell into another quiet doze. 
 
 It was no wonder he drew the blind aside with curiosity, 
 for during the night a gale had sprung up, and in that ram- 
 shackle house the sound of it was increased by the rattling 
 of slates on the roof, under which there was no ceiling ex- 
 cept in the front shop. 
 
 It roared round the gables and whistled through the ill- 
 fitting doors and windows, until once or twice in the night, 
 he had feared that the whole tenement would be blown into 
 the river, which swept through the meadow below. It was 
 now early dawn, and in its pale pink light the river looked 
 swollen and ruffled by the strong wind. 
 
 " What a day for the fair ! " he said as he drank his tea. 
 " Now, milk only for the child, and plenty of that, and I 
 will come and see him again in the afternoon before I go 
 into the country. Good-bye ! cheer up and thank God ; you 
 have every reason to do so." 
 
 Outside the house the wind was having it all its own 
 way, sweeping the stray straws and rubbish into sheltered 
 corners, rattling the shutters and doors, and whistling as it 
 rushed up the empty street. 
 
 At Hendyrafon the signs of the storm were no less 
 evident, for its proximity to the river gave the blast full 
 play over the old house ; but Doctor Dan was too fatigued 
 to notice it much, and in less than ten minutes was fast 
 asleep. 
 
 When he awoke the day was far advanced, and he heard 
 Betti Luke laying his dinner downstairs. The storm had 
 not lessened, and when he looked through the window he 
 saw that the fair had dwindled away, though it was only 
 noon, and that the street had been delivered up to the 
 boisterous swa}^ of the wind. 
 
 " What will you do about Bryndu, sir ? " said Deio, meet- 
 ing him at the bottom of the stairs. " We'll be blown out 
 of the gig, I'm thinking."
 
 '"Uts an 511 Mint)" 331 
 
 " Well, we must try it. Bring the gig round at four 
 o'clock. There are two or three people to see here before I 
 go. Perhaps the gale will have gone down by that time," said 
 the doctor ; and after gladdening Betti's heart by making a 
 good meal, and declaring that no one could beat her at 
 frying trout, he made his way through the storm to the 
 upper end of the street, where, having made sure that 
 Nance's darling was making good progress, he turned in to 
 see Tim Scrivenwr, who had been laid up with an attack of 
 jaundice, brought on by his son John's " carryings-on " with 
 the slatternly beauty to whom Tim objected so much. 
 
 He had almost recovered, and the doctor's cheerful greet- 
 ing put fresh spirit into him at once, but he looked a little 
 less pugnacious than of old, and he was less anxious to air 
 his English. 
 
 "You are quite well," said Doctor Dan, "and I need not 
 come to see you again. What a day ! No customers for 
 you, I fear." 
 
 " No," said Tim, shaking his head, " the fair has gone 
 flat, the tilts have been blown to gibbets, and the shows 
 didn't try to open ! " 
 
 " But who are these ? " and, turning in astonishment. 
 Doctor Dan recognised Mali and Stivin Storrom, the latter 
 calling in a voice that even the roaring wind could not 
 drown, " Hello ! Tim Scrivenwr, can we have lodgings here 
 to-night 1 " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! come you in," said Tim. 
 
 " Doctor Dan ! Well, indeed, is it you, sir. Here's a 
 day ! " said both at once, and they began to relate how 
 they had driven the pig in the Bryndu donkey cart to 
 be sold, and, beginning their way home, had been fairly 
 beaten by the storm, and were now seeking for lodgings 
 where they might stay the night. 
 
 " One donkey and cart have been blown into the river 
 already to-day," roared Stivin, "and we thought we were 
 going too, when we were crossing the bridge ! "
 
 332 ©n the minQS ot tbe Mtnt) 
 
 " And there's vexing we are about the lo's fach ! " said 
 Mali ; " left by herself in the storm, and the thatch so bad 
 at Doloer." 
 
 " Alone 1 " said the doctor, startled, 
 
 " Yes ; lago Yaughan is away, and Phil is ill, and Betta 
 tending him with brown paper and vinegar." 
 
 " I am going to Bryndu," said the doctor, " and will tell 
 them how you have been detained. I will see to Miriel 
 too ; " and scarcely waiting to bid them good-bye, he hurried 
 home to Hendyrafon to find Deio ready, but full of evil 
 forebodings. 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know all that," was his answer, " but we've 
 got to go," and in a short time they were crossing the 
 bridge, trying to make headway against the wind, which 
 threatened every moment to overturn them or tear them 
 from the gig. 
 
 Thus they made but very slow progress, and the grey, 
 lowering day was darkening as they drove into Bryndu 
 clos. 
 
 The mistress of the house was a confirmed sufierer from 
 rheumatism of a severe type, so that the doctor's visits to 
 her were very frequent, though it was little he could do to 
 ease her malady, but, " In my deed, there ! " she would say, 
 "it is doing me good to hear his voice ; " and he had said, 
 " Oh, well, send for me when you like," and she had not 
 scrupled to take him at his word. 
 
 To-day, however, she had not expected him, and great 
 was her delight therefore, and many her ejaculations, when 
 the gig drove into the clos. 
 
 " Well, bendigedig ! Who would think such a thing 1 
 Doctor Dan bach ! I am glad to see you. A glass of hot 
 beer at once, Mari, and one for Deio ; " and then began a 
 recital of her ailments, to which the doctor listened as 
 patiently as he could, and found that Deio had heard an 
 exaggerated account of her illness. 
 
 When her pains and aches had all been detailed and
 
 "'Zris an 311 MinD" 333 
 
 prescribed for, he expressed his intention of proceeding on 
 his journey as far as Doloer. 
 
 " What ! go out again in such weather 1 No, sir, I beg of 
 you ! There's your bed ready, and to-morrow it may be 
 calmer. There hasn't been such a storm for thirty years ! " 
 But Doctor Dan was firm, and, calling to Deio, explained 
 to his patient and her daughter why he must leave them 
 at once. 
 
 " By herself in that lonely place ? " said the girl. " Ach 
 y fi ! I wouldn't be in her shoes for the world. Bring her 
 here, sir, if you can ; she shall sleep with me." 
 
 " Sleep with thee ! " said her mother, indignantly. " No, 
 we have plenty of beds at Bryndu, whatever ! and she's one 
 of the Lloyds of Tygwyn, mind thee ! " Armed with this 
 invitation and chafing at the delay. Doctor Dan got into the 
 gig, which Deio had with difficulty brought round, and they 
 drove out of the clos into the high road, where, between 
 the high hedges, they were able to make a little progress. 
 The night had fallen in inky darkness, occasionally illumined 
 by vivid flashes of lightning. 
 
 " The wind will not last much longer," said Doctor Dan. 
 '* I have always noticed this silent lightning comes at the 
 climax of the storm." 
 
 Deio made no answer, but his master was accustomed to 
 that. Thus battling with the high wind and frequently 
 halting in the shelter of some friendly bush, they reached 
 the highest ridge of the hill above the slope, and here 
 Samson stopped and backed a little as if he said, " This is 
 beyond a joke." 
 
 " We can't go further," shouted Deio. " Samson won't 
 go." 
 
 " No," said his master. " Take him back to Bryndu, and 
 see they have a good fire and a hot cup of tea ready when 
 I come back." 
 
 Deio only nodded as he took the reins and turned 
 Samson's head round. He seemed to have stepped into his
 
 334 ®n tbe mims of tbe Mint) 
 
 old taciturn groove again, but there was the upward screw 
 at the corners of his mouth and a twinkle in his eyes which 
 with him did duty for a smile, as he drove back alone, 
 Doctor Dan proceeding down the slope. 
 
 Here it was a struggle indeed, but a fierce joy seemed 
 to fill his heart as he battled with the fury of the 
 elements. 
 
 He was continually obliged to take refuge behind the 
 furze and thorn bushes while some blast more than ordi- 
 narily strong rushed by him, then, taking advantage of the 
 alternating lull, he advanced more rapidly, and thus at 
 last reached the garden gate at Doloer. 
 
 Looking up towards Hafod ho saw a light in the win- 
 dow, and wondeied if, after all, Miriel was there safe in 
 the warmth of her friends' hearth. 
 
 He almost hoped she was, as he felt the full force of 
 the gale that rushed up the shore, and saw the vivid (lashes 
 of lightning that darted through the gloom, disclosing for 
 an instant the scene of strife around him. "The storm- 
 fiends are out to-night for certain," he thought, and the 
 memory of how Miriel was affected by a thunderstorm 
 added to bis uneasiness as he entered the porch at Doloer. 
 
 To her the day had been one of varied feelings. She 
 had begun it with a happy song upon her lips, for ever 
 since Deio's visit a strange new joy had been seeking 
 admittance to her heart. 
 
 " What had he meant by his question, 'D'ye think that 
 would please the mishteer ? ' Surely Deio know," for she 
 was well aware, that though the connection between him 
 and Doctor Dan was one of master and servant only, still 
 the latter looked upon Deio and, in a lesser degree, on 
 Betti Luke as his truest friends, for between them existed 
 the old strong bond, born of faithfully-performed service, 
 and a warm appreciation of such fidelity. Therefore the 
 simple serving-man's words had been caught up and pon- 
 dered over by Miriel, until they had borne fruit in a strong
 
 "'Xris an 511 Mint)" 335 
 
 reaction from the restless aching that had thrown its 
 shadow over her of late. 
 
 What did it matter that the storm raged if in her heart 
 a bird of joy and hope was singing? What cared she that 
 there was no one to cross the threshold through the whole 
 grey day 1 The sun would shine again to-morrow, the 
 orchard would be white and pink with blossoms, and the 
 primroses would look up at her from every mossy mound. 
 So she closed the door and sang at her work with a happy 
 forecasting of she knew not what, for life was beautiful 
 once more and full of all sorts of possibilities. 
 
 But as the day wore on, and the storm increased, her 
 spirits flagged a little, for surely it could not be solitude 
 alone that made her think that never before had the sea 
 looked so black nor the blast roared so furiously round the 
 old house. 
 
 She wished she had gone up the slope to Hafod while it 
 had been possible to do so, for well she knew that Betta 
 would be too much absorbed in her care for Phil to remem- 
 ber she was alone. 
 
 Mali and Stivin, too, had gone to Tregarreg, and the 
 complete solitude of that lonely shore began to tell upon 
 her nerves. 
 
 When nightfall came she piled the fire with logs, lighted 
 her candle, and tried to knit, but it was impossible, and, 
 dropping her work, she began pacing up and down the room, 
 anxiously waiting for Mali and Stivin's return, but hour 
 after hour went by without bringing any sign of them, and 
 as, moreover, there had been several vivid flashes of light- 
 ning, her nervousness increased, and as she paced backwards 
 and forwards she spoke aloud her inmost thoughts. 
 
 " Oh, I am very lonely," she said ; " but God is over all, 
 and I will not be afraid," and in the strength of this 
 assurance she called her usual courage to her aid, and sat 
 patiently waiting in the rush chair on the hearth. At last, 
 when her courage was almost exhausted and her nerves
 
 336 ®n tbe Minos of tbe Min& 
 
 strung to painful excitement, her ear caught the sound of 
 a step in the porch. 
 
 In a moment every instinct, every sentiment of her 
 nature sprang into life, and she knew that this step was 
 neither Mali's nor Stivin's, but one that she had longed to 
 hear once more at the door. She started to her feet as 
 Doctor Dan entered, with a familiar "Miriel" only for 
 greeting, and while he turned to fasten the door and hang 
 up his cloak, she had hard work to still the throbbing of 
 her heart and to steady her voice, so great and so sudden 
 was the rebound from the loneliness and terror of the past 
 hours to the flood of awakening joy that was rising within 
 her. " Oh, Doctor Dan ! through this dreadful storm ! " 
 she said at last, taking the hand which he was holding out 
 to her. 
 
 " Miriel ! you have been frightened," he said, seeing her 
 paleness and hearing the unsteadiness of her voice. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, it is a fearful storm ; but I am not 
 frightened now. I only wanted someone to be with me." 
 
 " Someone. "Will I do, then 1 " he asked gravely, and 
 still standing on the hearth before her. 
 
 To this she made no answer. " I heard," he said, " that 
 lago Vaughan was away, and that Betta would be unable 
 to be with you. I saw Mali and Stivin at Tregarreg, 
 where they will stay until to-morrow, so I could not bear 
 the thought of your being alone here. Is it any comfort to 
 you that I have come ? " 
 
 Even yet Miriel did not answer. She could not trust 
 her voice to speak, but bending her head lower and lower 
 she at last said, " Oh, yes." 
 
 Doctor Dan was silent, too, for a few moments, looking 
 at her in the blaze of the firelight with eyes in which pas- 
 sionate love strove with the fear and uncertainty which her 
 words had failed to dissipate. 
 
 What if this girl should tell him the simple fact that she 
 was glad to see him, and no more 1
 
 **"Cis an 3U MinO" 337 
 
 He felt, strong man as he was, that he could not bear it, 
 80 it was with a nervous tremble in his voice that he said, — 
 
 " Miriel ! I want to understand you — I want to put an 
 end to the unrest that has poisoned my life latterly ; " and 
 he held out both his hands, while into her face the hot 
 blood returned, and into her eyes there came a light which 
 awoke a thrill of joy within him. 
 
 She placed both her hands in his. " Unrest 1 " she said, 
 " about me. Doctor Dan 1 " And the grey eyes which 
 looked into his could no longer be misunderstood. 
 
 " About you 1 yes, yes, about you. Don't you know 
 that I have loved you all this long time 1 " And he 
 drew her nearer until the golden head was leaning on his 
 breast. 
 
 " Miriel ! " he said suddenly, holding her at arm's length, 
 " is it possible that this great happiness is coming to me ? 
 that you love me, a man so much older than you, a grave, 
 Btern man they call me, and you so young, so fair] 
 
 "Tell me, is the desire of my heart to be granted me? 
 Do you love meV And for answer she loosened his 
 hands and pressed closer to him, leaning her head again 
 upon his breast, and saying, " Oh, yes ; oh, yes, indeed ! " 
 
 Now he clasped her to his breast and kissed her face, 
 her hair, her eyes, while the old clock ticked in the corner 
 and the storm raged fiercely round the house. 
 
 At the little side window a hand which neither of them 
 saw was clearing away the foam flecks, and a man was 
 looking at them with sad eyes that took in the whole 
 scene, and understood. 
 
 It was lago, who, finding on his return to Tregarreg that 
 neither Betta nor Phil were there to meet him, had walked 
 all the way home with the same intention as had moved 
 Doctor Dan, namely, that of cheering and lightening 
 Miriel's solitude. 
 
 He had been feted and flattered in the distant town, 
 but had returned homo to see a sight which turned hia 
 
 ¥
 
 33S On tbe Xdings of tbc iminO 
 
 pleasure into pain and his hope to ashes ; and he turned 
 silently from the window towards the wild darkness of the 
 shore. 
 
 Next morning he arrived at Hafod in time for the early 
 breakfast, and no one ever knew that he had left Tregarreg 
 early in the evening of the preceding day. 
 
 On the hearth at Doloer the fire crackled and blazed, 
 and in its fitful light Miriel and Doctor Dan were 
 beginning to realise the great joy that had come to 
 them. 
 
 " And so my sweet white clover is coming to me after 
 all," he said, " and no one else is to gather it and wear it 
 on his heart. Ah, Miriel ! I had put that happy dream 
 away from me, and now it returns as a bright reality." 
 
 " Oh, Doctor Dan ! " said Miriel, "did you care for me 
 so much as that ? " 
 
 " As much as that ! Only the years to come can show 
 you how much that was. But Doctor Dan, Miriel ? No^ 
 no, child, never again let me hear that word before my 
 name from your Hps ; say Dan, darling I " 
 
 " I will try, but very soft at first, because it will sound 
 so bold." 
 
 "Bold!" he laughed. " WTiat, to be so familiar with 
 the bearded dragon f " And Miriel joined with the merry, 
 ringing laughter, the echo of whose music had haunted the 
 old parlour at Hendyrafon. 
 
 " And that happy laugh, iliriel ! I thought it had gone 
 out of my Kfe for ever." 
 
 "Oh, no, indeed," she said, "laughter is never very far 
 ofi" where I am whatever I " 
 
 " Come, t^ll me, sweet clover," he said, "how came you 
 to love a silent, uncouth man like me ? " 
 
 " Tell me then, strong oak, how came you to love a little 
 white clover 1 " said Miriel. 
 
 " Because it is the sweetest flower that grows, f anwylid ! 
 Its creamy white turning to pink at the heart, its exquisite
 
 44 
 
 'Zi9 an 511 Mln^" 339 
 
 scent, its hardy, healthy staunchness, its faithfulness 
 through storm or shine, and with all its lovely qualities, 
 its humility and modesty. Yes, I have always loved it, 
 Miriel, and now I can press it to my heart and treasure 
 it as I have longed to do." 
 
 Miriel sighed and gazed into the fire. 
 
 "Sighing and pondering so deeply?" 
 
 "Well, indeed I was thinking what a happy world this 
 is ! " And while outside the strong winds held high revels, 
 sweeping the sand and foam before it, scooping the sea 
 crows from their nests and tearing the bay into a foaming 
 field of strife, inside that old thatched house there was 
 light and warmth, and love and laughter, for Miriel, though 
 supremely innocent and inexperienced, was not slow at 
 repartee, and in the new atmosphere of full content and 
 doubt dispelled the hours passed unnoticed until the old 
 clock struck eight. 
 
 " Eight o'clock ! " said Doctor Dan, startled, "and I have 
 not said half of what I have to say." 
 
 "What then?" asked Miriel, opening her eyes. "I 
 thought we had talked a lot, and oh ! I must always laugh 
 when I think about Deio and Betti ! Indeed, indeed it is 
 funny ! After living thirty years together, then all at 
 once to make up their minds to get married ! " 
 
 " Yes, I cannot help laughing myself whenever I think 
 of it. Fortunately they do not mind it in the least, but 
 seem to see the joke of it themselves. But now, Miriel, we 
 must turn to business." 
 
 "To business?" 
 
 " Yes. Now listen, f'anwylid, and bring your clear, 
 sensible little head to the consideration of the matter. 
 I did not tell you sooner because I wanted nothing to 
 disturb our meeting. When I reached the garden gate 
 a clump of thatch flew by me like a great black bird. 
 Do you hear that flapping, soughing sound ? In an hour 
 the house will be roofless 1 "
 
 340 On tbe Minos of tbe rcl(n^ 
 
 " Oh, poor old Doloer," she said, now thoroughly 
 frightened. "What will I do? Where will I go?" 
 
 " Where will you go, indeed ? Oli, Miriel, what a 
 question. Isn't Hendyrafon waiting for you, darling? 
 Isn't every room and every passage calling for you ? The 
 river is calling to you and my heart is calling for you. 
 Come then and sit in the sunset with me again and watch 
 the river flowing by, and make the tea for me at the little 
 black table." 
 
 The picture was irresistible to her, for she had lived that 
 sunset hour over and over again in her dreams and musings. 
 So enthralling was the vision that she bent her head to 
 hide the happy tears which filled her eyes. 
 
 "That evening is like a dream to me," she said at last. 
 
 " But we are going to turn our dreams to sweet realities, 
 dearest. Now listen to all my plans." 
 
 " Never grieve about the roof, Stivin Storrom shall 
 re-thatch it at once, and you will be able to return to 
 Doloer in a few days. In three weeks we will be married. 
 I have waited long enough, so say yes before I go further. 
 Make haste, love ; we have no time to lose, for the storm is 
 reaching even this bright hearth. Listen how those boards 
 tremble ; " and while the roaring sound increased in the 
 roof Miriel whispered a hasty "Yes." 
 
 " Right, then. You will trust me entirely ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed." 
 
 "Then listen again. This is no place for you to-night. 
 Then come with me to Bryndu, where they are waiting for 
 you. Watch that board, and when it lifts you will see the 
 wild night sky. At Bryndu you will have every comfort 
 till you can return here in a few days. We will waylay 
 Mali and Stivin to-morrow, and give him the order to re- 
 tliatch Doloer at once. Mali and he shall keep it warm 
 and dry, and we will come and stay here a few days when- 
 ever you like. Does that please my darling?" 
 
 " Oh, Dan ! " was all Miriel could say, and even while
 
 "'XTis an 311 Mlnb" 341 
 
 she spoke the roof opened, revealing the sky of night with 
 its myriad stars. 
 
 In a moment the light was blown out, and Doctor Dan, 
 flinging a can of water on the hearth, extinguished the 
 blazing logs, for the wind having once gained an entrance, 
 was rushing through the house and carrying the thatch in 
 clumps and sheafs up the slope. 
 
 In the inky darkness he led Miriel out to the porch, 
 where there was a moment's shelter. 
 
 "My cloak is wide enough for us both," he said, and 
 Miriel passively allowed herself to be wrapped in its folds 
 — and together they began their way up the slope. 
 
 Breathless and panting, and somewhat frightened, yet 
 Miriel could not restrain her laughter as they were driven 
 on their way, as if by some mighty giant who was carrying 
 them away to his stronghold. 
 
 Up through the furze and the heather; sometimes in 
 complete darkness, sometimes catching a glimpse of the 
 moon between the driving clouds. Past Hafod, where the 
 light in the window shone like a glow-worm in the dark- 
 ness, and where a thought of lago threw a moment's 
 shadow over her happiness. Up over the crest of the 
 slope, where they rested a moment in the shelter of a 
 thorn bush. Always that strong arm around her ; and in 
 spite of the wind and the darkness she felt safe and happy. 
 
 " How my little white clover is buffeted ! " he said, as he 
 saw her long hair loosened and streaming on the wind. " But 
 we will say nothing against the storm, f'anwylid, for surely 
 our happiness has come to us ' on the wings of the wind.'"
 
 342 ®n tbe lUtnos of tbc TiainD 
 
 On one of the brightest of ^f.-iy mornings the door of 
 Glanberi Church stood wide open. 
 
 The old vicar sat waiting in the vestry in his newly- 
 washed surplice, while Ifan, the sexton, stood in the 
 doorway. 
 
 No storms or winds prevailed that day, but golden sun- 
 light laved the world, and gentle breezes whispered in the 
 trees, carrying into the empty church the scent of the lilacs 
 in the churchyard hedge and the cowslips in the field 
 beyond 
 
 A noisy bumblo-beo flew in through the open door, 
 buzzing round the pulpit and over the pews, but no other 
 sound was audible except the soft sweep of the sca breeze 
 that came over the brow of the hill. 
 
 Suddenly tliero wa.s a click of the gate, a firm tread up 
 the path, and Doctor Dan entered with an air of breezy 
 freshness about him that seemed to bring a sense of life 
 and energy into the dim old church. 
 
 "You are early, ser," said Ifan, and the vicar came out 
 of the vestry to shake hands. 
 
 "No, just punctual," said the doctor, looking at his 
 watch, " but I am prepared for the usual fate of the bride- 
 groom." 
 
 " First lesson, ser," wliispered Ifan, who was fond of 
 his joke, and Doctor Dan laughed, with a whole-hearted 
 absence of the look of sadness that had shadowed his face 
 in the years that were passed — pa^t and gone ! like the 
 frost of a winter's night. 
 
 Presently there were more footsteps and voices on the 
 path, and the vicar took his place inside the altar rails, 
 while Ifan marshalled the bridigroom to his place, and in 
 from the spring sunshine came Miriel, leaning on the arm 
 of lago Vaughan. 
 
 Ho had asked to be allowed to "give the bride away,"
 
 ** *Ut3 an 511 MinO " 343 
 
 and she had consented, though not without a throb of pain 
 as she realised what her marriage would mean to him. 
 
 Mari Jones of Bryndu followed as bridesmaid, Phil and 
 Betta came next, and quite in the background Mali and 
 Stivin Storrom sat still and nervous at finding themselves 
 in a church. 
 
 Deio, too, crept in on tip-toe, and, as he seated himself 
 beside the latter personages, he looked around with a self- 
 satisfied air, and thought, " They'd never have opened their 
 eyes if it hadn't been for me." 
 
 Here was no sweeping train of satin, no flowing veil or 
 orange blossoms, but a simple country girl, who, as she 
 walked up the aisle, was bringing her whole heart and 
 unadorned beauty to her bridal. 
 
 One timid glance at the bridegroom, one reassuring 
 smile from him, and Miriel stood beside him waiting for 
 the words which were to unite them for ever, and it was 
 pure happiness that brought that mist of tears upon her 
 eyelashes, as, the service over, her husband drew her arm 
 within his own and led her away. 
 
 She had searched through the Tygwyn cofiers for a gown 
 that should do honour to her wedding, and had fixed on 
 one of dark blue corded silk, which Mali declared could 
 "stand alone." It required but little altering, and Miriel's 
 deft fingers had soon accomplished all that was wanted. 
 Her white hat and gloves alone gave the necessary bridal 
 eflTect to her quiet costume, but Doctor Dan was not alone 
 in his thoughts that no fairer bride had ever entered that 
 or any other church. 'Tis true she wore no orange blos- 
 soms, but, fastened on the bosom of her bodice, was a bunch 
 of white clover, which much disappointed Mari Jones, who 
 had prepared for her a bunch of white artificial flowers ; 
 and she was doubly confounded when she saw that the 
 bridegroom also wore a spray of white clover in his button- 
 hole. 
 
 In the vestry, Phil, who had recovered his fun and good
 
 344 ©11 tbe Mings of tbe Min& 
 
 spirits with returning health, insisted upon a kiss from the 
 bride. 
 
 " Come, lago, lad," he said, " and claim thy right ! " But 
 lago had not heard, or had pretended to be absorbed with 
 the registry book. 
 
 "There," said Phil, triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you 
 in the orchard I would have that kiss some day ? " 
 
 Miriel, laughing and blushing, was glad to escape with 
 her husband, and, as they sat together in the gig, Samson 
 pawing to be off, they missed nothing of grandeur in their 
 bridal, but drove away perfectly content with their sprays 
 of white clover. 
 
 No one, not even Miriel, had known what a painful 
 ordeal lago had gone through except, perhaps, Deio, who, 
 as he mounted Stamper to follow his master and mistress, 
 shook his head and muttered, " Pwr fellow, bach ! 'tis sour 
 work counting other people's sweets." 
 
 TUE END 
 
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