By Berwen Banks

"Oh! how dreadful," said Valmai, "how could he bear it? and how he must

have suffered since then; but I will make it all up to him, and now I

understand his conduct the other evening. Oh, you slow old puffing

engine, make haste, and take me to Blaenos Station, then there will be

a whole hour in that crawling coach, and then comes dear Caer Madoc!

and oh! it is market day. Cardo always drives in with Dr. Hughes on

that day, and walks home in the evening. I will walk! It will be like

that dear, happy night when we first met!" And at last her excitement

calming down, she settled herself again into her corner, and while she

sat silent and immovable, she followed out from beginning to end the

incidents of the last few weeks. Although Gwladys's mistaken

interference had caused her such deep sorrow, and such a bitter

experience as that of Cardo's avoidance of her at the Merediths, she

felt nothing but pity for the sister whom she knew would have

sacrificed life itself to save her from trouble.

As the train sped onwards, between the blue hills and by the silver

streams, her thoughts outran its speed, and in fancy she saw Cardo

hurrying along the high road to meet her at Caer Madoc. And he as he

drove along beside Dr. Hughes, was full of tender longings and thoughts

of her. She seemed to fill the air around him, she seemed to press

upon his inner consciousness with such vividness, that he felt it

difficult to restrain his voice, and prevent himself from calling her

name aloud.

At last, the evening shadows began to fall over sleepy Caer Madoc, and

Valmai, alighting from the coach in the "Red Dragon" yard, looked round

hurriedly. With her, too, the impression of Cardo's presence had been

so vivid, that she almost expected to see him waiting for her; but no

Cardo was to be seen! After leaving her luggage in the ostler's

charge, she hastened out through the old archway which opened into the

High Street.

"No, I prefer walking, thank you; you can send my luggage on

to-morrow," she said to the kindly officious man, who followed her to

offer his services as driver, and she turned up the street with a heart

full of exultant hopes. Here were the last straggling houses that

reached up the hilly street, leading to the moor. Her steps were light

and springy, as she followed the familiar road, now almost deserted by

the last pedestrians returning from the market. The sun had set behind

the sea, which she already saw stretching away to the west, a soft grey

haze enfolded the hills which rose before her, and the moon was rising

to her right and blending her silver light with that of the departed

sun, which still left a golden glow over the west. Valmai walked on

steadily until she reached the first milestone, and sitting down beside

it, she rested awhile, almost hidden by its shadow. It was not one of

the modern insignificant, square-cut, stiff stones, but a solid boulder

of granite, one of the many strewn about the moor. She listened

breathlessly to the different sounds that reached her ears, sounds

which seemed to awake in the stillness, as she listened. There was a

faint and distant rumbling of wheels in the town behind her, and surely

some strains of music, which carried her back in memory to another

evening in the past! Down below the cliffs on her left she heard the

mysterious whispering of the sea; in the little coppice across the road

a wood-pigeon cooed her soft "good-night"; and away in the hay-fields,

stretching inland, she heard the corncrakes' grating call; but no human

footstep broke the silence of night. Surely Cardo would have gone to

market on such a lovely day! or, who knows? perhaps he was too sad to

care for town or market? But hark! a footstep on the hard, dry road.

She listened breathlessly as it drew nearer in the gathering grey of

the twilight. Steadily it tramped, tramped on, and peeping round the

milestone, Valmai at last saw a grey figure emerge from the haze. It

was Cardo, she felt sure, and rising at once, she hurried some distance

on the road in a sudden feeling of nervousness. The steady tramp,

tramp came ever nearer, and, looking through the increasing shadows,

she saw distinctly the well-remembered form, the broad shoulders, the

firmly-knit frame, and in a fresh access of nervousness she hurried on

again--putting off the moment of recognition which she longed for, and

endeavouring to reach a hollow in the high bank, where she might lie

hidden until she had regained courage and calmness.