"Oh, nonsense," said his brother, "let us all three go up there to-day, and take the bull by the horns, and make friends with him."
And after breakfast, the Vicar, though with a bad grace, buttoned up his long black coat, and took his way, accompanied by his brother and his wife, up the steep path to Dinas.
It was an early hour certainly, not yet eleven o'clock; but "calling" was unknown at Abersethin, and it was not the unseasonableness of the hour which made Shoni stare as the three visitors entered the "clos" or farm-yard.
"Well, diwedd anwl!" he said, barely escaping an oath, "here's the 'Vicare du'! I know him by his coat tails, and his tallow face, and no doubt that is Lewis Wynne and his wife with him;" (for village gossip had already spread abroad the news of the arrivals at Brynderyn). "Well, indeed," he continued, "the preacher on Sunday night told us the end of the world was coming, and now I believe it!" and he put down his wheel-barrow, and stood stock still while the visitors approached.
"Borau-da!" [2] said the Vicare, in a constrained voice.
"Borau-da," was all Shoni's answer, and seeing a dogged look come into his face, Lewis Wynne took the lead in the conversation.
"How are you, Shoni? Do you remember the jolly day we had, you and I, out fishing when we ought to have been at school?"
"Yes, I do indeed, sir, and the lot of fish we caught."
"Yes, and the thrashing we got for it afterwards! But we want to see your master, Shoni."
"Essec Powell?"