, and also to his black apparel, sat in his musty study, as he had done every evening for the last twenty-five years, poring ever his old

s nose was slightly aquiline, and his mouth well shaped, though wide; but the firm-set lips and broad nostrils, gave the whole face an expression of coldness and hardness. In fact he had a p

ough no one guessed it except his son, who felt a tender

th his mother's name, and therefore shrank from inquiring into his father's past life, preferring t

lace on the page he was reading. Cardo was later than usual, and not until he had heard his s

the window, but Cardo did not, he turned round the corner of the house, passing by the front door, which was closed, and did not look inviting, to the other side, where the clatter of wooden shoes and a stream of

?" said Cardo in Welsh; "what mi

r boy!), is that you?"

o-night, and I was b

father m

, and beginning to prepare the ham and eggs for supper. "But where's that Robin

d made himself scarce

tt

them there. Well-he seated himself yesterday on a tombstone when we were in church, and whit, whit, whitted 'Men of Harlech' on

! What has he

ud, mind you!-in the prayer-meeting every Wednesday evening! But there! the master is beforehand with him, for he is praying for Essec Powell on Tuesdays!" and she tossed the frizzling ham and

as he entered the room punctually at the str

e stable, I found the swelling on his leg had risen again, so I lef

s sprain, as I told you, but young men

right anyway thi

the old proverb says, 'Yr hê

d has veered to the south; it will be bad for the

the Vicar, lookin

it; the Methodist Association, you

thing about it; I take no

her? There will be thou

Vicar, and pushing his plate away, he rose, and walked stiffly

d to his retrea

The mould candle lighted up but a small space in the large, cold room; there was no fire in the grate, no books or papers lying about, to beguile the tedious hour before bedtime. Was it any wonder that his thoughts sho

the stairs, the bureau creaked, the candle spluttered, but there was no human voice to break the silence, With a yawn he rose, stretching his long legs, and, throwing back his broad shoulders, made his way along the dark passage which led int

said Betto, selecting a sh

ried ham; but another night I w

rtain," said Ebben, the head servant, beginning

turnips to-day

home, Ser. I consider there is no piece of land on this earth, no, nor on any other earth, better farmed than

etto; "you say so often enough, what

r words that, for a moment Ebben was at a loss what to answer, so

or the Sassiwn. Jini 'bakkare' has two sacks of flour to bake, and

cow and a sheep; and the tongues, and fowls,

ey may well give them bread and meat," she said,

o give them, indeed! Why, Price Merthyr would send your old red velvet cushion at church flying into smithireens in five minutes. Haven't I heard him. He begins soft and low, like a cat purring on the hearth, an

our Price Merthyr, and your hams, and lions, and things. Ach y fi

d[4] at her over the hedge this morning when she was going to Cae

cating, "surely that is a new

he is an orphan, and they say the old man is keeping her reading

disperse, the men servants going to their beds over the hay loft or stable; while the women, leavi

interested him most. He was, like many of the inhabitants of the South Wales coast, a descendant of the Fl

glish, but they have never learned to speak the language of

as thoroughly Welsh-making its way easily to the warm Welsh hearts. There was a deep well of tenderness, almost of pity, within him for his cold stern father, a longing to break through his reserve, a hankering after the loving ways of home life, which he missed though he had never known them. The cold Fleming had very little part in Cardo's nature, and, with his enthusiastic Welsh sympathies, he was wont to regret and disclaim his connection with these ancient ancestors. His father's pedigree, however, made it very plain that the Gwynnes of Brynderyn were descended from Gwayn, a Flemish wool merchant who had settled there in the reign of Henry I.-these settlers being protected and encouraged by t

red to rest he took d

ad a chapter, and, clos

om his knees, the last

, my bel

d striding from furrow to furrow in company with Dye and Ebben, returning to a hurried breakfast, and out again on the breezy hill

t beginning to touch its whitewashed walls with gold, while up above, on the h

y sign of the girl whose acquaintance he had made so unexpectedly, and he was almost tempted to believe that she was no other than a creature of his own imagination, born of the witching moonlight hour, and absorbed again into the passing shadows of nig

ith Marged Hughes in attendance, looking very different, but every bit as charming, in her neat farm dress as she had on her visit to Caer Madoc. The sleeves of her pink cotton jacket, pu

ing. Huge joints of beef and ham, boiled or baked, stood ready in the cool pantries; and in the smallest cottages, where there was more than on

at the chapels and their swarming congregations, now, carried away by the enthusiasm of the people, consented to attend the meet

ad been fixed upon for the holding of the Sassiwn. On the flat at the bottom the carpenters were already at work at a large platform, upon which the preachers and most honou

t too old to look neat and comfortable, on that wind-swept, storm-beaten cliff. Its grey walls, marked with patches of damp and lichen, looked like a tear-stained face, out of which the two upstairs windows stared like mournful eyes. Downstairs, in one room, there was a little sign of comfort and adornment; crimson curtains hung at the window, inside which a few flowers grew in pots. Keeping well under the hedge of elders which surrounded the cwrt or front garden, Cardo passed round to the side-the pine end, as it is called in Wales-and here a little lattic

in Welsh, "have

le. I am waiting f

ts rhythm, he read aloud from a book of old poems. "There's poetry for you, girl! There's a description o

bout it, uncle; but isn't

see the mis

rey and pu

lush to see

iden of t

very pretty

but that's all, Valmai. Pwff! you have put me out with your 'blushing maiden' and your 'purple shee

inctly, and then the sweet voice began and cont

uncle. Will I go and see

ll look after the cakes; you light t

, and to draw the reader out into the gold and purple sunset-out over the breezy clif

at beside the table with one leg thrown over the other, hands clasped, and chi

onger," thought Cardo, as he s

s, seating herself at the table by the open window,

ening light. He took note of the golden wavy hair growing low on her broad, white forehead, her darker eyebrows that reminded him of the two arches of a beautiful bridge, under which gleamed two clear pools, reflecting the blue of

und of the regular plash of the waves on the beach reached Cardo's ears. He thought of the long reaches o

k in a dimly-lit room? while outside were the velvet turf o

wing a little weary and monotonous, and the white e

lly, and hurried his steps as he approached the house. Just in time, for Betto was placing on the table an appetising supper of cawl and bread and bu

the for

meadow finish

to work, and Ebben and he tog

st go there and buy a cow which Jones Pant y rych is going to sell. I have told Ebben he

and he knew that neither of the men would be absent on that occasion, even though disobedience should cost them their place. They were both Methodists, and it had gone hard with th

r the moment that the market day at Ll

r, the Sassiwn begins t

n't see what difference that

e will want to be

" went into his study. He knew as well as his son did that it would be useless to try and persuade his servants to be absent from the meetings, and the kn

e his congregation dwindled away to a mere handful, while the chapels around hi

vants were assembled for supper, and where Shanw was again holding forth, t

ing will be the

n the field?"

his old books for a few days now, and poor Valmai will have rest. Marged Hughes says she is reading to him fo

repare his serm

said Shanw indignantl

sermon out like a clerg

Straight from the 'b

l pre

the first meet

here's glad they'd be. You shall go on the platform wi

cturing himself among the solemn-faced preachers. "No,

inst her teeth; "'ts, 'ts! 'tis pity indeed. But,

and yet in his heart of hearts he wished he would so far temper his zeal with Christia

ow, the young a

eek b

odomo

Pe

amorga