epted my
offer with many thanks and bows, and as we sat and drank our ale we had a
great deal of discourse about the places we had visited. The ale being
finished, I got up and said:

"I must now be off for the Devil's Bridge!"

Whereupon he also arose, and offering me his hand, said:

"Farewell, master; I shall never forget you. Were all the gentlefolks
who come here to see the sources like you, we should indeed feel no want
in these hills of such a gentleman as is spoken of in the pennillion."

The sun was going down as I left the inn. I recrossed the streamlet by
means of the pole and rail. The water was running with much less
violence than in the morning, and was considerably lower. The evening
was calm and beautifully cool, with a slight tendency to frost. I walked
along with a bounding and elastic step, and never remember to have felt
more happy and cheerful.

I reached the hospice at about six o'clock, a bright moon shining upon
me, and found a capital supper awaiting me, which I enjoyed exceedingly.

How one enjoys one's supper at one's inn after a good day's walk,
provided one has the proud and glorious consciousness of being able to
pay one's reckoning on the morrow!

CHAPTER LXXXIX

A Morning View--Hafod Ychdryd--The Monument--Fairy-looking Place--Edward
Lhuyd.

The morning of the sixth was bright and glorious. As I looked from the
window of the upper sitting-room of the hospice the scene which presented
itself was wild and beautiful to a degree. The oak-covered tops of the
volcanic crater were gilded with the brightest sunshine, whilst the
eastern sides remained in dark shade and the gap or narrow entrance to
the north in shadow yet darker, in the midst of which shone the silver of
the Rheidol cataract. Should I live a hundred years I shall never forget
the wild fantastic beauty of that morning scene.

I left the friendly hospice at about nine o'clock to pursue my southern
journey. By this time the morning had lost much of its beauty, and the
dull grey sky characteristic of November began to prevail. The way lay
up a hill to the south-east; on my left was a glen down which the river
of the Monk rolled with noise and foam. The country soon became naked
and dreary, and continued so for some miles. At length, coming to the
top of a hill, I saw a park before me, through which the road led after
passing under a stately gateway. I had reached the confines of the
domain of Hafod.