It is a grand
thing for her.'
'Not to disobey us and run away, Miss Gwynne? she would be better doing
her father's bidding than marrying a lord, much less Howel.'
'But you are not going to make yourself ill and miserable about it.
Since it is done, you may as well make the best of it; but you must go
to bed and keep quiet, to-day at least. You are not fit to see all the
people who are already on their way to condole or congratulate. You will
have half the parish here before night; I passed old Nancy, Cwmriddle,
hobbling down the lane, and she will be here shortly.'
'Oh, I couldn't see them, Miss Gwynne.'
'Then you must go to bed to avoid it. Do be advised, you look so ill.'
'When Miss Gwynne so far forgot herself as to be persuasive instead of
commanding, she was irresistible. She put her hand so gently on Mrs
Prothero's shoulder, and looked so kindly into her tearful eyes, that
the poor woman began to cry afresh. The sound of a stick knocking at the
back door completed the victory, and Mrs Prothero went sobbing upstairs,
whilst Gladys opened the door to admit Nancy, Cwmriddle, and another
gossip who had overtaken her. Mr Prothero came into the yard at the same
time.
'Well, sir, to be sure; only to think of Miss Netta,' began the old
woman in Welsh.
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