Page:My people stories of the peasantry of West Wales.djvu/194

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MY PEOPLE


Bern-Davydd?” said Joshua. “And he our ruler too! If he cannot perceive the enemy in his own household, how expect he to find him among the congregation? One of his own lambs goes astray.”

“Joshua Llanwen, speak you plain to me now.”

“Is not that ram of an Adam courting Lissi, the poorhouse bitch that works at Ellen’s loom? The pig that cackles his son to the Pool! The bellows that blows him into the arms of Satan! Why do Adam and her go each night on the Road of the Romans? Bern-Davydd, this is no light matter to him.”

“Woe is me!” cried Bern-Davydd.

“A sinner from my loins! … This must end. Joshua Llanwen, be you another Paul. Keep watch over my son on the Road of the Romans. Stay in hiding, and if you see anything wrong, show yourself, and counsel him, and drive the evil spirit out of him.”

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