By Berwen Banks

"Poor Betto looked anxiously from one to the other of us, and I kept my

still and silent watch. My heart was breaking with distrust of my

wife, and hatred of my brother; but I never spoke of my failing trust

in them both. I brooded upon it night and day, and my life became a

hell upon earth.

"One day in the early spring, about a month before you were born,

Caradoc, I had been to a funeral at the old church; and hearing of the

serious illness of a parishioner who lived on the high road to

Abersethin, I followed the path on the left side of the Berwen, and as

I neared the bridge which crosses the valley on the top, I suddenly

came upon Agnes, who was sitting on a boulder by the side of the brook,

and as I approached I saw her dry her eyes hurriedly. She rose from

her seat, and her colour came and went as she looked at me. I longed

to take her in my arms and press her to my heart, for she looked pale

and sorrowful."

An exclamation from Cardo interrupted him.

"It pains you, Caradoc--it pains me--it pained me then--it will pain me

as long as I have any being. I may be forgiven hereafter, but it

cannot cease to pain me.

"'Agnes,' I said, 'are you not straying very far from home?' "'I came for a walk,' she answered; 'it is a lovely day!' "'I did not know you could walk so far,' I said. 'Last evening when I

asked you to come down to the shore with me, you said it was too far!' "'Yesterday, Meurig, I was feeling very ill; to-day I am better.' "Her lip quivered a little, and she looked round uneasily, I thought.

"I said, 'I am going to see old Shôn Gweydd, or I would walk back with

you; but perhaps you don't mind going alone.' "'Oh, no, not at all,' she said, as she began her way back by the

Berwen.

"I went my way with a heavy heart, and as I entered Shôn Gweydd's house

(it was a little way down the road) I looked back at the bridge, and

saw a girl cross the stile and go down into the valley. It was Ellen

Vaughan, and no doubt Agnes had been waiting for her; but when in

returning I met my brother Lewis coming over the same stile into the

high road, my whole soul was filled with anger, and I passed the

brother whom I had loved so tenderly with a short, cold remark about

the weather, and I reached Brynderyn consumed with jealousy and bitter

hatred.