'Winnie, dear,' I said, 'seeing you is such a surprise, and my
illness has left me so weak, that I must wait before talking about
myself. I shall be more able to do this after I have learnt more of
what has befallen you. You say that Sinfi proposed to bring you to
Wales; but where were you when she did so? And what brought you into
contact with Sinfi again after--after--after you and I were parted in
Raxton?'
'Ah! that is a strange story indeed,' said Winifred. 'It bewilders me
to recall it as much as it will bewilder you when you come to hear
it. I, too, seem to have been ill, and quite unconscious for months
and months.'
'Winnie,' I said, 'tell me this strange story about yourself. Tell it
in your own way, and do not let me interrupt you by a word. Whenever
you see that I am about to speak, stop me--put your hand over my
mouth.'
'But where am I to begin?'
'Begin from our first meeting on the sands on the night of the
landslip.'
But while I spoke I thought I observed her looking at the breakfast
provided by Sinfi with something like the same wistful expression
that was on her face on that morning forgotten by her but remembered
by me so well, when she breakfasted so heartily on the same spot.
'Winnie,' I said, 'this mountain air has given me a voracious
appetite. I wonder whether you could manage to eat some of these good
things provided by our theatrical manageress?'
'I wonder whether I could,' said Winnie; 'I'll try--if you'll ask me
no questions, but talk about Snowdon and watch the changes of the
glorious morning. But we must call Sinfi.'
'No, no. I want to talk to you alone first. By the time your story is
over I at least shall be ready for another breakfast, and then we
will call her.'
This was agreed upon, and I sat down to my second breakfast with
Winnie beside Knockers' Llyn. I sat with my face opposite to the
llyn, and we had scarcely begun when I noticed Sinfi's face peeping
round a corner of the little gorge. Winnie's back being turned from
the llyn she did not see Sinfi, who gave me a sign that her part of
that performance was to be looker-on.
I have not time to dwell upon what was said and done during our
breakfast in this romantic place, and under these more than romantic
circumstances. During the whole of the time the Knockers kept up
their knockings, and it really seemed as though the good-natured
goblins were expressing their welcome to the child of y Wyddfa.