the girl, "I am glad, mother, so thankful to be free; I
could sing with the birds for joy, and yet there is some shadow in my
heart. 'Tis for Garthowen, I think, 'n'wncwl Ebben is so sad--Gethin
has never come home, and that money, mother! who stole it and put it
back again? We used to be so happy, but now it seems like the
threatening of a stormy day."

"Sometimes those stormy days are the end of rough weather, lass.
Through wind and cloud and lightning, God clears up the sky. Thee must
not lose patience, 'merch i; by and by it will be bright weather again."

"Do you think, mother?"

"Yes, I think--I am sure."

"Well, indeed," said Morva, "you are always right; but oh! I am
forgetting my cheese, I set the rennet before I came out. I must run."

And away she went, and in a short time had reached the dairy, where the
curdled milk was ready for her. First she went to the spring in the
yard to cool her hands and arms, and then with shining wooden saucer,
she broke up the creamy curds, gradually compressing them into a solid
mass, while the delicious whey was poured into a quaint brown earthen
pitcher.

The clumsy door stood wide open, and the sunshine streamed in, and
glistened on the bright brass pan in which Morva was crumbling her
curds, her sleeves tucked up above her elbows, showing her dimpled
arms. With her spotless white apron, her neatly shod feet, and her
crown of golden hair, she looked like the presiding goddess of this
temple of cleanliness and purity.

Round the walls stood shelves of the blue slaty stone of the
neighbourhood, upon which were ranged the pans of golden cream, above
them hanging the various dairy utensils of wood, polished black with
long use and rubbing.

Morva's good spirits had returned, for she hummed as she rubbed her
curds:

"Troodi! Troodi! come down from the mountain,
Troodi! Troodi! up from the dale!
Moelen and Trodwen, and Beauty and Blodwen,
I'll meet you all with my milking pail."

Meanwhile at home in the thatched cottage on the moor Sara seemed to
have caught the mantle of sadness which had fallen from the girl's
shoulders. She went about her household duties singing softly it is
true, but there was a look of disquiet in her eyes not habitual to
them, an air of restlessness very unlike her usual placid demeanour.
For sixteen years her life and Morva's had been serene and uneventful,
the limited circle which bound the plane of their existence had been