"No, no, no! Caton pawb! man, I'll show you a prettier picture than
that. She's a lovely creature! with brown velvet eyes, her forehead
all covered with little round curls."
"What! a friz?"
"Well, if you like to call it so. Lovely ears and a little soft nose,
the whole surmounted by a pair of short brown horns."
"Good heavens! the woman?"
"Why, no! the cow, of course!"
"Oh, I see; the friz and the brown eyes belong to a cow then,--but what
of her mistress? My dear fellow, don't waste all your poetry on the
cow."
"As I haven't much to spare, you think. Well, her mistress
is--Valmai!" and Cardo lifted his hat as he spoke.
Gwynne Ellis took two or three long puffs at his pipe, and looked
curiously at Cardo, who stood looking over at the glimmering light in
one of the windows at Dinas.
"Cardo Wynne, I am beginning to understand you; I have mistaken the
whole situation. Here have I been thinking myself the only man in the
place capable of appreciating its beauties properly--the only poetic
and artistic temperament amongst you all--and I gradually awake to find
myself but a humdrum, commonplace man of the world, who has dropped
into a nest of sweet things: earth, sea, and sky combining to form
pictures of beauty; picturesque rural life; an interesting and
mysterious host; an idyllic cow; a friend who, though unable, or
perhaps unwilling, to express his enthusiasm, yet thoroughly feels the
poetry of life; and, better than all, I find myself in close touch with
a real romantic love affair! Now, don't deny it, my dear fellow; I see
it all--I read it in your eyes--I know all about it. The pretty cow's
lovely mistress; and her name is--Valmai! How tender! My Welsh is
rather rusty, but I know that means 'sweet as May.' Oh, Cardo Wynne,
what a lucky dog you are!"
Cardo was still silent, and his friend continued, pointing to Dinas: "And there she dwells (haven't I seen your eyes attracted there
continually? Of course, there's the glimmer of her lamp!) high on the
breezy cliff, with the pure sea wind blowing around her, the light and
joy of her father's home, and soon to fly across the valley and lighten
up another home."
"Oh, stop, stop, for mercy's sake!" said Cardo. "Your Pegasus is
flying away with you to-night, Ellis. Your imagination is weaving a
picture which is far beside the truth. You have not guessed badly. I
do love Valmai, Corwen's mistress, and I wish to God the rest of the
picture were true."
"Pooh! my dear fellow, 'the course of true love,' you know, etc., etc.
It will all come right in time, of course; these things always do.
I'll manage it all for you. I delight in a love affair, especially one
that's got a little entangled, you know."