“You mean that you would not,” said I. “Now do you choose to bring what you are bidden?”
“Come, aunt,” said John, “don’t be silly and cenfigenus, but bring the breakfast.”
The woman stood still for a moment or two, and then biting her lips went away.
“What made the woman behave in this manner?” said I to my companion.
“Oh, she was cenfigenus, sir,” he replied; “she did not like that an English gentleman should understand Welsh; she was envious; you will find a dozen or two like her in Wales; but let us hope not more.”
Presently the woman returned with the bread, cheese and ale, which she placed on the table.
“Oh,” said I, “you have brought what was bidden, though it was never mentioned to you in English, which shows that your pretending not to understand was all a sham. What made you behave so?”
“Why I thought,” said the woman, “that no Englishman could speak Welsh, that his tongue was too short.”
“Your having thought so,” said I, “should not have made you tell a falsehood, saying that you did not understand, when you knew that you understood very well. See what a disgraceful figure you cut.”
“I cut no disgraced figure,” said the woman: “after all, what right have the English to come here speaking Welsh, which belongs to the Welsh alone, who in fact are the only people that understand it.”