There was nobody in the kitchen: on my calling, however, a girl came, whom I bade in Welsh to bring me a pint of the best ale.

The girl stared, but went away apparently to fetch it--presently came the landlady, a good-looking middle-aged woman.

I saluted her in Welsh and then asked her if she could speak English.

She replied "Tipyn bach," which interpreted, is, a little bit.

I soon, however, found that she could speak it very passably, for two men coming in from the rear of the house she conversed with them in English.