[[2]] Porridge.
[[3]] Dear people! (an exclamation).
[[4]] "There is no fool like an old fool!"
[[5]] Carpenter.
CHAPTER VII.
A WEDDING CALL.
The month of May, with all her charms on earth, sea, and sky, had slipped away, and June reigned in her place, pouring forth her stores of bud and blossom, laying her warm hand on the ripening fruit in the orchards, turning their cheeks to crimson and gold, lulling the waves to rest, and folding the young broods of birds, which swarmed in the cliffs, in her mantle of soft balmy air. The shepherd's song was heard from the hillside as he sat basking in the sunshine, the clap, clap of the mill came on the breeze, the clinking of the village anvil, the voices of little children, all blended together in delicious harmony. Every door and window in the village was open, and the air was filled with the "sh-sh" of the sea. The children sat playing on the warm, dry sand. 'N'wncwl Jos sat astride on the keel of his boat, which had been turned upside down for repairs. He had a pot of tar and some tow beside him, but the work did not proceed very rapidly, as The Ship Inn was so near, and the heat of the sun made an occasional "blue" a necessity. 'N'wncwl Jos's time was a commodity that hung heavily on his hands, and there was no hurry to get the boat done, so he exchanged his quid of tobacco from one cheek to another, and took his daily snooze in the June sunshine. Suddenly a gentle voice aroused him.
"'N'wncwl Jos!"
"Well, merch i?"[[1]] and he began busily to caulk a crack in his boat.
It was Gwladys who stood beside him, rather paler, perhaps, than when he saw her last, but with the same sweet curves over mouth and chin—with the same serious look in the brown eyes—which were shaded by the white sun-bonnet.