Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

268 RHYS LEWIS.
likely the Devil had an enormous old stocking stowed away
somewhere. Anyhow, it is certain that Nic'las was not poor,
for he lived in his own house, which he had bought for a pretty
good sum of money. This house, called Garth Ddu, stood in a
secluded nook, about half a mile from the town, and abutted
upon the domain of the Hall. Surrounding house and garden
was a high wall, built after Niq'las had become owner. What
was visible of the structure had an antiquated look about it,
the ivy mantling it up to the roof and making the windows
wholly useless. A stranger would have thought the place had
no occupant, and 'vs'buld have been confirmed in the notion by •
the appearance of the patch of land attached to the house,
which had been neither grazed nor mown for years, and which,
human being never trod save Nic'las, who might be seen
occasionally, head downwards, walking by the hedge-side, gun
under arm, as if searching, not for a bird but for a badger.
Since the day Nic'las got into possession, not a foot was known
to have entered that enclosure save its owner's, and that of a
disreputable old woman, named Magdalen Bennet, or as she
was commonly called Modlen of the Garth. Not even the tax
collector was ever allowed to go beyond the door in the wall.
Nic'las holding no intercourse with his neighbours, what of
business he had to do with the world was transacted by Modlen
alone. It was she who brought home his food, and the little
clothes he stood in need of; it was she who called for his week-
ly newspaper. Many were the attempts made to get from
Modlen some inkling of Nic'las's circumstances and mode of
life ; but the only reply the old woman ever gave was, " it is a
question you are putting me." The utmost got out of her, even
by her best friends, with reference to the way in which he
spent his time was that he dug his garden and shot sparrows. All
conversation concerning her master being distasteful to Modlen,
and she being a good customer, the shopkeepers did not think
of pestering her with inquiries. And yet they could not help
wondering at the capacity of Nic'las's stomach, if he alone ate all
the food she bought for him. Moreover, when they thought of
the large amount of powder and shot sent him, they wondered
how a single sparrow had been left alive in all the country. It
was Modlen's story, probably, which gave rise to the belief that