In a weak moment his mother told him that there were fairs in Shropshire, and above all, the great fair of Brampton Bryan, held every year in June. She told him how her father had taken her there many years ago, when she was a little girl, and how she had eaten the cakes which are made on purpose for this festival. ‘Bron cakes, they call them,’ she said. The fact that eating was added to these other delights inflamed Morgan’s imagination. ‘Will they have Bron cakes this time?’ he asked. ‘Of course they will. They always have Bron cakes.’ ‘Can’t we go, mam?’ ‘It’s a long way away,’ she told him. ‘But granfer took _you_ . . .’ ‘Granfer had a horse and trap.’ ‘Grandma Malpas has a pony,’ Morgan persisted. ‘Some day, when you’re a big boy, you shall go,’ said Mary. The subject dropped from their conversation, but not from Morgan’s mind. The child knew better than to pester his mother about it, but as the time of the fair grew nearer, he talked to every one else that he met, to Mick, to Abner, to Mrs Mamble, and even to old Drew. The thought of Bron Fair obsessed him and even found its way into his dreams. The week before the event he became so persistent and showed so keen a disappointment at the thought of missing it, that Abner began to take him seriously. ‘Why shouldn’t we take ’em along?’ he said to Mary, when the children were in bed. ‘It’s too far away,’ she said. ‘Much too far.’ ‘It’s not that far over the hills. Some of our chaps is going to walk there.’ ‘You can’t drag children up hill and down dale.’ ‘Well, there’s the train from Llandwlas.’ She shook her head. ‘You can’t get back the same day,’ she said. ‘You could put in the night at Redlake. There’s a station there.’ She said nothing. ‘It’s a shame to disappoint them,’ he added. Her interest in the children’s happiness was her weak point, and in the end Abner had his way. He settled with the Gunner that he should leave work early on the Thursday afternoon and return on Saturday morning. He met Mary and the children on the platform at Llandwlas in the afternoon. Morgan had never travelled in a train before, and stood excitedly at the window, next to his mother. Gladys sat quietly by the side of Abner, who carried the brown paper parcel in which their clothes and provisions were packed. He was not quite comfortable, for it seemed to him even now that Mary had undertaken the expedition under protest. This was unreasonable, for he had enough money to carry them through, and it was no use going on an expedition like this unless she were determined to enjoy it. But Mary was thinking of her last journey from Llandwlas in the morning train to Shrewsbury. Perhaps she was thinking also of George.