"The water is cold," he said apologetically, and his trembling voice and chattering teeth were accounted for; but when the long hair was disentangled, and the clutching fingers loosened from their frantic grasp, there were ejaculations of horror and astonishment from the sympathising onlookers.
"The Mishtress! howyr bâch! how did she get there? Druan fâch! there's white she is! And Ivor, too! Surely there will be no awakening for him. So still, so white! but with a smile on his face. Dost see it, Mari fâch?"
But Mari was busy with Gwladys. Tenderly the fragile form was carried up the road and into her own home, while Ivor was borne with no less loving care to his lodgings, where the proper means of restoration were, before long, successful in bringing him back to life, and the crowd waiting outside turned up the road towards the Mishteer's house.
"How did the Mishtress get there?" was now their eager question.
This seemed likely to remain an unsolved mystery, for as Mari Vone came gently down the stairs to answer their frequent inquiries, her reassuring accounts of Gwladys' awakening and recovery stopped short at this interesting point.
"Mari fâch," said Sara Pentraeth, in a voice made hoarse by the excitement of the morning, "tell us, Mari fâch, how did the Mishtress get there?" and in her eagerness she ran up two or three stairs, and reached with clawing fingers towards Mari's skirts.
"She is better," said Mari, coming down the stairs; "the Mishteer is with her, and begs you all to go home quietly. The Mishtress will be well in a day or two; but she is too frightened to answer any questions yet."
And, reluctantly, they were compelled to control their curiosity for the present, satisfying themselves by turning again towards Ivor's lodgings, where they lingered about all day until relieved by the information that his strong frame was battling bravely for life, and that probably after a night's sleep he would be himself again.
Gwladys had opened her eyes and returned to consciousness with a quiet calmness which was absent from Ivor's recovery. The return of life and warmth to the body which has so nearly severed its connection with the soul is often a painful experience, and especially in the case of partial drowning. He had returned to consciousness with much struggling and groaning, and when he realised that the old life of thwarted hopes and bruised feelings had once more to be encountered, the groans, which those around him attributed to bodily pain, were caused by the fresh awakening to mental anguish.
"Gwladys! where is she?" were his first words.