he
other a large female setter, the coat of the latter dripping with rain,
and shortly after two men from the gig entered; one who appeared to be
the principal was a stout bluff-looking person between fifty and sixty,
dressed in a grey stuff coat and with a slouched hat on his head. This
man bustled much about, and in a broad Yorkshire dialect ordered a fire
to be lighted in another room, and a chamber to be prepared for him and
his companion; the landlady, who appeared to know him, and to treat him
with a kind of deference, asked if she should prepare two beds; whereupon
he answered "No! As we came together and shall start together, so shall
we sleep together; it will not be for the first time."

His companion was a small mean-looking man, dressed in a black coat, and
behaved to him with no little respect. Not only the landlady, but the
two men, of whom I have previously spoken, appeared to know him and to
treat him with deference. He and his companion presently went out to see
after the horse. After a little time they returned, and the stout man
called lustily for two fourpennyworths of brandy and water--"Take it into
the other room!" said he, and went into a side room with his companion,
but almost immediately came out saying that the room smoked and was cold,
and that he preferred sitting in the kitchen. He then took his seat near
me, and when the brandy was brought drank to my health. I said thank
you, but nothing farther. He then began talking to the men and his
companion upon indifferent subjects. After a little time John Jones came
in, called for a glass of ale, and at my invitation seated himself
between me and the stout personage. The latter addressed him roughly in
English, but receiving no answer said, "Ah, you no understand. You have
no English and I no Welsh."

"You have not mastered Welsh yet Mr ---" said one of the men to him.

"No!" said he: "I have been doing business with the Welsh forty years,
but can't speak a word of their language. I sometimes guess at a word,
spoken in the course of business, but am never sure."

Presently John Jones began talking to me, saying that he had been to the
river, that the water was very low, and that there was little but stones
in the bed of the stream.

I told him if its name was Ceiriog no wonder there were plenty of stones
in it, Ceiriog being derived from Cerrig, a rock. The men stared to hear
me speak Welsh.

"Is the gentleman a Welshman?" said