The young architect's pride had but one drawback. He could not shake Elaine's fidelity to her uncle and aunt. She would not desert them in their old age.
'It will be better for you to go to this great work unfettered by a wife,' she argued bravely.
But he would not see the personal sacrifice she made, and went off at last in a huff.
'This new business will be his solace,' she said. 'I must be content to do my duty, and leave the rest to God.'
And neither her aunt nor her blind uncle knew the temptation she had resisted for their sakes, though they thought her quieter than before.
She was right. His new business left William little leisure for looking back.
He had gone over to Bristol to engage masons, in addition to those he had already trained, before he finally took leave.
Then there was no running back. His first duty was to erect huts or houses for his workpeople and their families; and he took care they were such as should be of service when the temporary purpose was served.
He had long before made John Llwyd his foreman—a good deputy on whom he could rely; just as he could depend on his old friend Robert Jones for the best of stone from the very best local quarries, or for his sand and lime. For the carriage of other matters to and fro he fell back on Robert's active young partner Hughes, for whom the peat-cutter's niece had jilted easy-going Davy.
But ere the foundations of the bridge were laid and firm, the builder had engaged his brother-in-law, Thomas Williams, to supply the wooden frames on which his arches were to be fitted and adjusted. And so, with trustworthy coadjutors like these, the work went on steadily.