When, returned from the funeral, they reached their own door, one or two neighbours proposed to stay with her a few hours, but she coldly answered, "No, I don't want you," and, closing the door with a bang, bolted it noisily.
Left to herself, she looked vaguely round the cottage, and, turning to her mother, who had seated herself sobbing in the chimney corner, said, in a cold, hard voice:
"What are thou crying about, woman? It wasn't thy child upon whose coffin the clods fell so heavily; they were not thine, those little hands that lay so stiff and white, that used to close so tight round my finger. What hast thou to cry about?"
"Oh, Gwen," said poor Lallo, "thou art a strange woman. Wasn't he mine, too? The very apple of my eye, calon fâch! There's sad news for poor Siencyn when he comes home next week! But God knew best what was good for him, and that is why He has taken him from us. The Bible says, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.'"
"Oh, silence with your texts! God, indeed! What sort of a God must He be who gave me a little baby to fill my empty heart, and then tore him cruelly away? Be quiet about your God, mother. If granny had been alive I would not have wanted help from God or man."
"Oh, Gwen, Gwen, hisht!" said the poor, bewildered woman; "I know it is hard to understand, but thou must bend before God, and say, 'He knows best.'"
"I won't," said Gwen, kicking at the embers which had gone out on the cold hearth. "He can do no further harm to me. My little one—born in lawful wedlock, too! not like thee, mother, nor granny, nor yet her mother!"
"No, indeed, it is true!" said Lallo, rocking herself backwards and forwards; "bad luck has followed us for generations. But thy father was a respectable man, Gwen; he is deacon in his chapel at Abersethin, and his wife and family are the best dressed in Salem Chapel. Oh, yes, thou hast no need to be ashamed of thy father, though he did play me a scurvy trick in marrying Fani Hughes; but he couldn't help it, poor fellow! They say Fani's brother threatened to shoot him if he hadn't married her!"
"Perhaps your God took my child, then, to punish me for your sins," said Gwen, with a sneer.
"Sins!" said Lallo, opening her eyes. "'Twas a misfortune that might have happened to thee or anyone. Sins, indeed! That's the first time I have ever had that word thrown in my teeth!" and, much hurt, she began to rekindle the fire.