may as well tell thee everything,
Sara, and make a clean breast of it all. I had grown so fond of Morva,
Diwss anwl! she was in my thoughts morning, noon, and night, and I
thought she cared for me a little; but there I was mistaken, I suppose,
for when I asked her, she told me she was promised to Will. 'Here
behind this very bush,' she said, 'only two nights ago, I met him, and
I promised him again that I would be true to him.' I have been in
foreign lands when an earthquake shook the world under my feet, and at
those words of Morva's I felt the same, as if the world was going to
pieces; but I had to bear it; 'tis wonderful how much a man can bear!"

"And a woman too, 'machgen i," said Sara, laying her soft hand upon
his, "'twas a bitter time for Morva too."

"I didn't know that," said Gethin, "or 'twould have been worse to bear.
Well, when I went to bed that night, there was no sleep for me, no more
sleep than if I was steering a ship through a stormy sea. Well, that
dreadful night, the old house was very quiet, no sound but the clock
ticking very loud, and the owls crying to the moon; there was something
wrong with Tudor too, he was howling shocking all night, and 'twas a
thing I never heard him do before, perhaps because I slept too sound.
I tossed and turned till the clock struck twelve, and then I began to
feel drowsy; but all of a sudden I was as wide awake as I am now. I
thought I could hear a soft footstep in the passage, as if someone was
walking without shoes; I listened so hard I could hear my heart
beating. I thought 'twas a thief, or perhaps a murderer, and I
determined to rush upon him, but somehow I could not move, for I heard
a hand rubbing over the wall; 'tis whitewashed and rough you know,
Sara, and the hand was a rough hand--I could hear that; then somebody
passed my door, and in to Gwilym Morris's room. I was out of bed in a
minute, and across the passage in the dark, for there were black clouds
that night, and the moon was hidden sometimes. Just as I reached the
door of Gwilym's room, whatever, she came out and lighted up the whole
place, and there, Sara, I saw a sight that made my heart leap up in my
throat. Indeed, indeed, 'twas a sight that I would give my life never
to have seen, but I did see it, Sara, plain enough, and now you know
what it was, and I can't bring my lips to put it into words. I turned
back to my bed with my hands over my eyes, as if I could tear away the
horrid sight