u displeased them. And you were long hence to be taught that in
a certain past year, and a certain month, and on a certain day of the
month, not forgetting the hour of the day to the minute of the hour, and
attendant circumstances to swear loud witness to it, you had mortally
offended them. And you receive your blow: you are sure to get it: the
one passion of those women is for vengeance. They taste a wound from the
lightest touch, and they nurse the venom for you. Possibly you may in
their presence have had occasion to praise the military virtues of the
builder of Carnarvon Castle. You are by and by pierced for it as hard
as they can thrust. Or you have incidentally compared Welsh mutton with
Southdown:--you have not highly esteemed their drunken Bards:--you have
asked what the Welsh have done in the world; you are supposed to have
slighted some person of their family--a tenth cousin!--anything turns
their blood. Or you have once looked straight at them without speaking,
and you discover years after that they have chosen to foist on you
their idea of your idea at the moment; and they have the astounding
presumption to account this misreading of your look to the extent of a
full justification, nothing short of righteous, for their treachery and
your punishment! O those Welshwomen!

The much-suffering lord of Earlsfont stretched forth his open hand, palm
upward, for a testifying instrument to the plain truth of his catalogue
of charges. He closed it tight and smote the table. 'Like mother--and
grandmother too--like daughter!' he said, and generalised again to
preserve his dignity: 'They're aflame in an instant. You may see them
quiet for years, but it smoulders. You dropped the spark, and they time
the explosion.'

Caroline said to Mr. Camminy: 'You are sure you can give us the day?'

'All of it,' he replied, apologising for some show of restlessness.
'The fact is, Miss Adister, I married a lady from over the borders, and
though I have never had to complain of her yet, she may have a finale in
store. It's true that I love wild Wales.'

'And so do I' Caroline raised her eyes to imagined mountains.

'You will pardon me, Camminy,' said Mr. Adister.

The lawyer cracked his back to bow to the great gentleman so
magnanimously humiliating himself. 'Sir! Sir!' he said. 'Yes, Welsh
blood is queer blood, I own. They find it difficult to forgive; and
trifles offend; and they are unhappily just as secretive as they are
sensiti