She is an orphan, and they say the old man is keeping her reading and reading to him all day till she is fair tired, poor thing." "Well, it is getting late," said Cardo, "good-night." And his rising was the signal for them all to disperse, the men servants going to their beds over the hay loft or stable; while the women, leaving their wooden shoes at the bottom, followed each other with soft tread up the creaking back stairs.
In the study the Vicar poured over his books, as he translated from English into Welsh the passages which interested him most.

He was, like many of the inhabitants of the South Wales coast, a descendant of the Flemings, who had long ago settled there, and who have left such strong and enduring marks of their presence.
Their language has long given place to a sort of doggerel English, but they have never learned to speak the language of the country except in some of the straggling border villages.
Pembrokeshire, in particular, retains a complete separateness, so to speak, from the rest of the country, and is often called "Little England beyond Wales." Thus it was that the English language seemed always more natural to Meurig Wynne than the Welsh.

His sermons were always thought out in that language, and then translated into the vernacular, and this, perhaps, accounted in some degree for their stiffness and want of living interest.

His descent from the Flemings had the disadvantage of drawing a line of distinction between him and his parishioners, and thus added to his unpopularity.

In spite of this, Cardo was an immense favourite, his frank and genial manner--inherited from his mother, who was thoroughly Welsh--making its way easily to the warm Welsh hearts.