laughed the earl, "I like your wisdom, good Jack, and am well content that my retainers should 'let sleeping dogs lie.' But confess now, that it is a dull place for a man, haunted or not, and you cannot much wonder that we have never greatly loved it. I am here only to please my wife, for I own to have but little love for Bryn Afon." And again a dark look crossed for an instant the careless face. "Your wife, my lord!" exclaimed the boatman. "You are indeed married? Surely, I have oft wondered who the fair lady might be that my young master would take for his bride." "She is in truth passing fair," said the earl, "but the blessing of good health has for some time past been denied her, and it was to humour her sick fancy that I came to the castle. But it is but little enjoyment this fair neighbourhood can give her, since she has not yet once set foot without the castle walls." "Indeed, my lord, I am grieved to hear you say so," said Jack, "and fain would I look upon her sweet face! If I am not too bold whatever--have you been long married, my lord, and have you children?" "Seven years married, good Jack," answered the young earl; "I married some few months after the death of my mother. No, we have no children, and for my wife's part, it is a circumstance upon which she congratulates herself, for this foolish tale about the curse doth verily so frighten her, that she is for ever telling me she can but hope we shall be its last victims. For my own part, I confess that I should find good cheer in the presence of some such golden-haired fairy as yon Primrose! However, the gods do not favour all alike with their gifts! By the way, honest Jack, does that old gipsy still haunt the country-side with her horrid rhymes? I believe she is at the bottom of half the nonsense that is afloat." "Her tales are but the same as those our forefathers have handed down to us," said Jack, thoughtfully, "yet she has indeed added to them detestable rhymes of her own, for which a ducking in the river should be her portion, an she were not a weak woman! It is long now since she has been seen hereabouts, and indeed, since she must verily have reached by now her threescore years and ten, I can but hope it may have pleased Providence to release her! What think you, my lord? It was her last crazy fancy to go about the country abusing my bridge, and prophesying its destruction! Why, indeed, she so took away the people's faith therein, that for a long season many refused to cross it in rough weather. But the folly hath passed, and my bridge showeth yet no sign of decay!" "Ah!" said the earl, "your bridge looks certainly but a light structure, but you are doubtless a fitter judge of its strength than a cantankerous old woman." "I trust so, my lord," said the boatman, "and I have every confidence that your lordship's children (whom may it please God to send to you and your gracious lady) will run many a time across my bridge in