"Oh, well, he was very glad. 'There's good news, indeed!' sez he, and 'wish her joy for me, Nani.' Hast settled which stripe thee'lt have in thy petticoat, lass? What did Mari Vone say?"
"Oh, she liked best the blue. I don't care which; you can settle it, mother."
"Don't care!" said Nani, raising her hands in astonishment. "Well, in my deed, thou art an odd girl in some things! Going to be married to the Mishteer, and not care whether thy stripes are to be red or blue! If it had been to a common man like Dye Pentraeth or Ivor Parry, it would be no 'otts' perhaps—but to the Mishteer, the owner of half the village, so rich, and so handsome, and with his achan[[2]] going back I don't know where! A scarlet stripe it shall be, then; and I wish there was a brighter colour!" and she whisked the crock of "mash," which she was warming for her ailing cow, off its hook over the fire with such a swing of triumph that some of its contents was spilt on the hearth, and Gwladys looked after her with a smile, half-sad, half-amused.
"Mother fâch,[[3]] I have made her life happy, whatever!" she said, and standing there in the twilight, with the skeins of bright wool hanging from her unconscious fingers, she fell into a deep reverie. "Is this how every girl feels when she is going to be married?" and then a silence. "Wish her joy for me!" Well, what more could she expect from any man who heard of her approaching marriage? The curves of the mobile mouth fell, and the brown eyes became suffused with tears. Both signs of sadness, however, were chased away as she heard a manly footstep at the door, and Hugh Morgan entered the cottage. At the same moment Nani returned from the cowshed, so, according to Welsh custom, Hugh's manner was jovial and friendly only, nothing warmer being considered decorous in the presence of a third person, more especially that of a future mother-in-law.
"Well, are you here, little people? Coming in from the sunset, I can't see you yet."
"We are here all right, Mishteer, and glad to see you. Come in," said Nani, as she dusted a chair with her apron.
"I just came in to say I am going to Abersethin to-night on business, so I sha'n't be able to bring the new glee to show thee, Gwladys. How does the world go with thee to-night, Nani?"
"Right well, Mishteer. Sit down, sit down."
"I must not stay long," said Hugh, and Nani considerately made her sick cow an excuse for pottering in and out of the house. She remembered the old saying, "I had better go," said the crow, "when the dove begins to coo!" When she had left the house, Hugh's manner changed at once.
"How is my darling?" he said, taking the listless fingers which held the red and blue skeins; "and what are these pretty things? Aha! now I'll warrant they are for some new clothes for thy wedding," and he drew the blushing girl towards him. "The old sail-shed is dull without thee, lass. When will my wild sea-bird get over her shyness?"