Page:My people stories of the peasantry of West Wales.djvu/252



“Stranger bach,” answered Esther, “say you like that, what for?” “A ladi you seem,” said Hws Morris.

Esther was vain, and she did not perceive through the man’s artifice.

“Indeed, indeed, then,” said Hws Morris, “speak from where you are.” “Did you not say I was Squire Pryce’s daughter?” said Esther.

“Ho, ho, old boy wise is Squire Pryce.”

Esther turned her eyes upon the bathers. Catrin and another woman were knee-deep in the water; between them, their hands linked, Sam. She heard Bertha Daviss crying from the shore: “Don’t you wet it, Sam bach.” Hws Morris placed the tips of his fingers into his ears.

“This,” he mourned, “after two thousands years of religion. They need the little Gospel.”

“Very respectable to be a preacher it is,” said Esther.