ng somewhat to the left, and the other to the
right. After standing a minute in perplexity I took the right-hand road,
but soon guessed that I had taken the wrong one, as the road dwindled
into a mere footpath. Hearing some one walking on the other side of the
hedge I inquired in Welsh whether I was going right for Llan Rhyadr, and
was answered by a voice in English, apparently that of a woman, that I
was not, and that I must go back. I did so, and presently a woman came
through a gate to me.

"Are you the person," said I, "who just now answered me in English after
I had spoken in Welsh?"

"In truth I am," said she, with a half laugh.

"And how came you to answer me in English after I had spoken to you in
Welsh?"

"Because," said she, "it was easy enough to know by your voice that you
were an Englishman."

"You speak English remarkably well," said I.

"And so do you Welsh," said the woman; "I had no idea that it was
possible for any Englishman to speak Welsh half so well."

"I wonder," thought I to myself, "what you would have answered if I had
said that you speak English execrably." By her own account she could
read both Welsh and English. She walked by my side to the turn, and then
up the left-hand road, which she said was the way to Llan Rhyadr. Coming
to a cottage she bade me good-night and went in. The road was horribly
miry: presently, as I was staggering through a slough, just after I had
passed a little cottage, I heard a cracked voice crying, "I suppose you
lost your way?" I recognised it as that of the old woman whom I had
helped over the stile. She was now standing behind a little gate which
opened into a garden before the cottage. The figure of a man was
standing near her. I told her that she was quite right in her
supposition.

"Ah," said she, "you should have gone straight forward."

"If I had gone straight forward," said I, "I must have gone over a hedge,
at the corner of a field which separated two roads; instead of bidding me
go straight forward you should have told me to follow the left-hand
road."

"Well," said she, "be sure you keep straight forward now."

I asked her who the man was standing near her.

"It is my husband," said she.

"Has he much English?" said I.

"None at all," said she, "for his mother was not English, like mine." I
bade her good-night and went forward. Presently I came to a meeting of
roads, and to go straight forward it was necessary to pass throug