hey are pretty well," said Will.

"And what are those? Gloves again! oh, anwl! indeed, it is time thee
and me should part," and rising from her stool she curtseyed low before
him with a little sarcasm in her looks and voice.

"Part, Morva--never!" said Will. "Remember tonight."

Morva nodded and bent to her work again, and the white sunbonnet leant
against Daisy once more, and the sweet voice sang the old melody. When
her pail was full she sighed as she watched Gwilym Morris and Will
disappear through the lane to the high road.

[1] The annual corn-grinding.

CHAPTER IX

THE NORTH STAR

Ebben Owens was going to market in his rough jolting car, Dyc "pigstye"
beside him, both dressed in their best frieze. In the back of the car,
covered over with a netting, lay three small pigs, who grunted and
squealed in concert when a rough stone gave them an extra jolt. In the
crowded street at Castell On, where the bargaining was most vigorous,
and the noise of the market was loudest, he stopped and unharnessed
Bowler, who had "forged" into town with great swinging steps and much
jingling of buckles and chains.

Having led him into the yard of the Plough Inn, he returned, and with
Dyc's help proceeded to lift out the pigs and carry them to the pen
prepared for them in the open street, Dyc taking them by the ears and
Ebben Owens by the tail. Now, pigs have remonstrated loudly against
this mode of conveyance for generations, but nobody seems to have
listened to their expostulations. They are by no means light and airy
creatures, indeed, for their size, they are of considerable weight, so
why they of all other animals should be picked out for this summary
mode of transport is difficult to understand. At any rate the
Garthowen pigs resented it warmly, and the air was rent with their
shrieks as Will and Gwilym Morris came upon the scene. Ebben Owens
almost dropped his pig in the delight of seeing his son in his new
clothes. Will nodded smilingly at him, while keeping at a respectable
distance from the shrieking animals, and the old man was filled with a
glow of pride and happiness which threw a _couleur de rose_ over
everything for the rest of the day. In truth, Morgan Jones of Bryn
made an easy bargain with him for those pigs, and Ebben went home in
the evening with ten shillings less in his pocket than he meant to have
had when he started from home.

"Look you here," he said to Ann and Gethin, who both ho