ake hands."

Morva turned towards him, placing her hand in his, and by the bright
moonlight he saw her face was very pale.

"Fforwel!" he said once more, and dropping her hand, he left her
suddenly, standing alone under the night sky. She looked after him
until he had passed round the Cribserth, and then turned homewards with
a heavier heart than she had ever borne before.

"'As the sparks fly upward!'" she whispered, as she reached the cottage
door, "Yes, mother was right, 'as the sparks fly upward!'"

CHAPTER XI

UNREST

"Ach y fi!" said Ann one day as the autumn slipped by, "only a week
before Will goes; there's dull it will be without him!"

"Twt, twt!" said Will, tossing his tawny mane, "'twill only be for
three months. Christmas will be here directly, and I will be home then
for the holidays--vacation, I mean."

"Vacation; is that what they call it? Dear! dear! we must mind our
words now with a college man among us."

Gethin seldom came into the house; from morning to night he worked hard
on the farm, and his father was obliged to confess that, after all his
roving, he showed more aptitude for steady work than Will did. When he
did enter the house, it was only to take his meals hurriedly and
silently, and if by chance he encountered Morva, as was unavoidable
sometimes in the day's work, he was careful not to look at her. The
girl, though conscious of his change of manner, showed no outward sign
of the acute suffering she was undergoing. Her whole life seemed
upturned, full of discordant elements and strained relations. To bear
Will's apparent indifference was not difficult, for she had been
accustomed to that all her life; but to know that she was bound to
him--that he still loved her, and would carry with him his faith and
trust in her, was a heavy burden. The change in Gethin's manner, the
averted look, the avoidance of her, the formal question or request,
were positively so many sharp thorns that pierced her like some
tangible weapon, and added to this was a deep regret that she was so
unworthy of Will's love. He did not ask her to meet him again behind
the broom bushes, and only one night in the old beudy,[1] where she had
carried a pail of grain to a sick cow, had he tried to speak to her
alone. Gethin, who watched his brother with eager interest, was
astonished at the indifference he showed towards her.

Surely they must meet somewhere secretly! Well, what was it to him?
What wa