nycil, Bala.

On the side of the old road, between Cerrig-y-drudion and
Bettws-y-Coed--long before this latter place had become the resort of
artists--stood an inn, which was much resorted to, as it was a convenient
lodging house for travellers on their way to Ireland. This inn stood
near the present village of Bettws-y-Coed. Many robberies occurred here.
Travellers who put up there for the night were continually deprived of
their money, and no one could tell how this occurred, for the lodgers
were certain that no one had entered their rooms, as they were found
locked in the morning just as they were the night before. The mystery
was, therefore, great. By and by, one of those who had lost his money
consulted _Huw Llwyd_, who lived at Cynvael, in the parish of Festiniog,
and he promised to unravel the mystery. Now, Huw Llwyd had been an
officer in the army, and, equipped in his regimentals, with sword
dangling by his side, he presented himself one evening at the suspected
inn, and asked whether he could obtain a room and bed for the night; he
represented himself as on his way to Ireland, and he found no difficulty
in obtaining a night's lodging. The inn was kept by two sisters of
prepossessing appearance, and the traveller made himself most agreeable
to these ladies, and entertained them with tales of his travels in
foreign parts. On retiring for the night he stated that it was a habit
with him to burn lights in his room all night, and he was supplied with a
sufficient quantity of candles to last through the night. The request,
as Hugh Llwyd was a military man, did not arouse suspicion. Huw retired,
and made his arrangements for a night of watching. He placed his clothes
on the floor within easy reach of his bed, and his sword unsheathed lay
on the bed close to his right hand. He had secured the door, and now as
the night drew on he was all attention; ere long two cats stealthily came
down the partition between his room and the next to it. Huw feigned
sleep, the cats frisked here and there in the room, but the sleeper awoke
not; they chased each other about the room, and played and romped, and at
last they approached Huw's clothes and played with them, and here they
seemed to get the greatest amusement; they turned the clothes about and
over, placing their paws now on that string, and now on that button, and
ere long their paws were inserted into the pockets of his clothes, and,
just as one of the cats had her