"I am truly glad, dear grandfather!" she answered bravely, "and proud to know that I am of so much nearer kin than I could have dreamed possible to one whose name is so well known and honoured in all the country-side. But prithee tell me, sweet mother, how this can be true, an it will not too greatly vex you to speak of it?" "I have but been waiting to first assure myself of my father's forgiveness," said Lady Bryn Afon, "e'er telling you this early part of my history, which I will now in few words relate, having in deep sorrow confessed my sin, and received his most loving and noble pardon. You know, doubtless, my daughter, that many of my young, girlish days were spent at Caer Caradoc, where an old friend of my mother's was housekeeper to the present Sir Ivor Meredith's father, and to whose charge my own dear father oft spared me for a time, that I might enjoy change of air and scene, fearing, in his goodness of heart, lest my life with him in our lonely cottage by the river were at times wearisome for one so young and light-hearted as I. There I met, far more frequently than I e'er confessed, the young heir of Bryn Afon, for he was very friendly with the sons of the late Sir Ivor, more especially with him who now bears the title, and he was wont to spend many hours with them at the castle. And besides this he spent, upon occasion, some days or weeks at Bryn Afon itself, and, unknown to my father, we met often by the riverside in the haunts of our childhood; and so he grew dearer to me, and I to him, than either of us dreamed at the first. I was young and wilful, and ere I knew what I was doing had promised to be his wife. His father was then dead, and there were none to control his wishes, but I knew well that my father would sternly forbid me to dream of one so far above me in station; so in our youthful haste, and love that would brook no denial, we escaped together from Caer Caradoc by means of the secret passage to Bryn Afon Castle, during the absence of Sir Ivor's family, and thence to London, where we were married. So I entered upon my wedded life in disobedience to the best and kindest of fathers, and upon a life of acts of secrecy and deception, which, begun to deceive my father, have needs been ever since continued to deceive my husband and save my child. So do our sins follow us! At the time of our flight through the secret passage I had no thought of being looked upon, when my disappearance became known, as a victim in my curiosity to its dark dangers, and had the full intent ere long to confess to my father what I had done, and comfort him to the best of my power by assuring him what great love my husband and I bore to each other, and what tenderness I received from him; but at the first I had not courage for my confession, and when, later, my troubles came thick upon me, and the knowledge of the curse blighted all my hopes of happiness, I was thankful when by chance I learned that I had long