"Come, come, Valmai; how slow you are, fanwylyd. I am waiting for you.
What made you step so slowly down the stairs?" he said, as he drew her
towards him; "you should have flown, dearest."
"I was thinking," said Valmai.
"And of what?"
"Thinking whether I had told uncle an untruth. He said, 'no
flirtations,' 'larks;' he called it; and I said, 'Very well, uncle,'
and I was wondering whether husband and wife could flirt."
Cardo laughed heartily.
"Come and sit by me, Valmai," he said, "and let us see. Come and
explain to me how, in the name of all that is wonderful and delightful,
I find you here, with your head nestled on my shoulder, instead of
being separated from me by wind and wave, as, in the natural course of
events, you should have been?"
"Well, you see, Cardo, when you passed the stile on Thursday (oh, that
sad Thursday!)"--Cardo shared in the shiver which shook her--"I was
there, to catch a last glimpse of you; but I was afraid to show myself
because of the 'Vicare du,' so I shrank down behind the hedge till you
had passed, and then I stood up and waved my handkerchief, and then you
were gone; and I fell down on the moss, and cried dreadfully. Oh,
Cardo, I did feel a big rent in my heart. I never thought it was going
to be mended so soon; and I roamed about all day, and tried hard to
keep my sorrow out of my thoughts, but I couldn't; it was like a heavy
weight here." And she crossed her hands on her bosom. "All that day,
and all the next, I went about from place to place, but not to the
Berwen, I could not walk there without you; and the next morning, when
I came back from Ynysoer, where I had been to see Nance, I found my
uncle reading a letter. It was from Jim Harris, the sailor, who does
everything for Uncle John, to say he had broken his leg, and would I
come and nurse him? And indeed, I was very glad, whatever, to have
something to do; so I came at once. Uncle Essec drove me to Caer
Madoc, and I thought what a dull, grey town Fordsea was, until this
morning when the doctor came and said the Burrawalla had come back
for repairs; and then the sun seemed to shine out, and when I went out
marketing, I could not think how I had made such a mistake about
Fordsea. It is the brightest, dearest place!"
"It is Paradise," said Cardo.
"There's Jim Harris going! I must go and lock the door."
"Everything is all raight, miss, and Ay wish you good-night," said Jim,
as he went out. He went through the same formula every night.