an,--who and what are you?"

"I must answer in the words of Taliesin," said I; "none can say with
positiveness whether I be fish or flesh, least of all myself. God bless
you both!"

"Take this," said Peter, and he thrust his Welsh Bible into my hand.

CHAPTER LXXXI

At a Funeral--Two Days Ago--Very Coolly--Roman Woman--Well and
Hearty--Somewhat Dreary--Plum Pudding--Roman Fashion--Quite Different--The
Dark Lane--Beyond the Time--Fine Fellow--Such a Struggle--Like a Wild
Cat--Fair Play--Pleasant Enough Spot--No Gloves.

So I turned back with Mr. Petulengro. We travelled for some time in
silence; at last we fell into discourse. "You have been in Wales, Mr.
Petulengro?"

"Ay, truly, brother."

"What have you been doing there?"

"Assisting at a funeral."

"At whose funeral?"

"Mrs. Herne's, brother."

"Is she dead, then?"

"As a nail, brother."

"How did she die?"

"By hanging, brother."

"I am lost in astonishment," said I; whereupon Mr. Petulengro, lifting
his sinister leg over the neck of his steed, and adjusting himself
sideways in the saddle, replied, with great deliberation, "Two days ago,
I happened to be at a fair not very far from here; I was all alone by
myself, for our party were upwards of forty miles off, when who should
come up but a chap that I knew, a relation, or rather, a connection of
mine--one of those Hernes. 'Ar'n't you going to the funeral?' said he;
and then, brother, there passed between him and me, in the way of
questioning and answering, much the same as has just now passed between I
and you; but when he mentioned hanging, I thought I could do no less than
ask who hanged her, which you forgot to do. 'Who hanged her?' said I;
and then the man told me that she had done it herself,--been her own
hinjiri; {249a} and then I thought to myself what a sin and shame it
would be if I did not go to the funeral, seeing that she was my own
mother-in-law. I would have brought my wife, and, indeed, the whole of
our party, but there was no time for that; they were too far off, and the
dead was to be buried early the next morning; so I went with the man, and
he led me into Wales, where his party had lately retired, and when there,
through many wild and desolate places to their encampment, and there I
found the Hernes, and the dead body--the last laid out on a mattress, in
a tent, dressed Romaneskoenaes {249b} in a red cloak, and big bonnet of
black beaver. I must say for the Her