"Why, thee look'st ten years older, man!" they said, with the usual outspokenness of the peasantry.
And Ivor would only smile and say—"No doubt, no doubt!" while he applied himself with extra care and interest in the Mishteer's concerns. Morning, noon, and night he was busy, apparently feeling that he could not do enough for his friend.
And once more in the sail-shed could be heard the swinging chorus of—
"Torn sails and broken mast—
But the boat is safe at home at last!"
[[1]] Supernaturally wise.
[[2]] Watch-night.
[[3]] English.
CHAPTER X.
HUGH'S SUSPICIONS.
It was about this time that Gwen took to wearing her shawl over her head, held tightly with one hand under her chin, and appearing in it at all sorts of odd times and places. This, to an outsider, may not seem an event worth chronicling; but to anyone conversant with the inner life of a Welsh coast village, it is full of meaning. Where intermarriage is so common as it is there, peculiarities of character gather strength with every succeeding generation, and are affected by the most trivial circumstances; and thus it comes to pass that insanity is always lurking amongst the seeming calmness and rural simplicity of the village life, ever ready to pounce upon the harassed in mind and body. It is no uncommon thing to see in a small village containing two or three hundred inhabitants, two or three windows boarded and barred, behind which are kept the unhappy sufferers from this terrible fate. The dread of the asylum hangs like a cloud over the scene that appears such a picture of rustic happiness. The signs of increasing insanity are little noticed by the villagers, it being considered courteous to ignore them as long as possible, so that the dreadful malady lurks about and shows itself unexpectedly when it is too late to cure it. One sign which is quickly noted, though never commented upon, is that of wearing the shawl in the case of a woman over the head instead of the shoulders, and the degree of insanity may be often gauged by the manner in which the shawl is held.