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she still refers to him as Mr Ifans and I am often Miss Catrin however many times I correct her. Christ promised that the meek should inherit the earth, didn’t he, though she’s only inherited Father and that little madam, Mari Elen. I was cruel to her mother, Tom, did you ever hear about that? Yes, I met Miriam once in the chemist’s in town and I followed her out and gave her such a mouthful. It’s an episode that still grieves me, though I suppose she had much worse to put up with, even her aunt turned against her, I heard. And yet she was once a highly respected school teacher. Her funeral was a very quiet almost secret affair of course, but the very first village meeting afterwards was really all about her, one person after another wanting to tell everyone how much she did for them; her pupils thought the world of her. Teachers in our elementary schools are usually not much brighter than the pupils they try to teach, but she was very highly regarded. And she is still talked about, so Teifi Griffiths, a former pupil who became a journalist on The Tivyside , said in her obituary. She certainly wasn’t an ordinary woman and I misjudged her.’
    ‘Of course you did. You were only conscious that she had broken up our family. I felt quite as strongly about it as you did.’
    ‘And at that time, I knew nothing of the power of love…. Well, aren’t we having an elevated conversation? Let me bring it down to earth and ask you whether you have a sweetheart. Miss Rees seems to think you have. I must confess I knew nothing of it, which shows how very distant we always were.’
    ‘I still cherish the memory of a very charming girl I met before I was sent abroad. But I only mentioned her to Nano because she seemed to need something to think about in those dark days when Mother was dying. I hear from her from time to time, and perhaps a bit oftener, but I won’t expect to hear from her again after I tell her my news.’
    ‘Tom! What a very poor opinion you have of women. I would have gladly given my life to looking after a wounded Edward if only I’d had that chance. Anyway, you must invite her to visit us here. She may be very glad of a few peaceful days in the country and some good country fare. Things are terrible in London, it seems. I look forward to meeting her. Though Nano may not be with us to toil and cook for quite some time, Lowri and I will do our best to make her feel at home. We’ve both been trained by Nano, you know, so I’m sure we’ll manage excellently between us. And Lowri says Maud and Lottie are good girls too. What do you say?’
    ‘I’m not sure. I don’t think things have gone as far as that. But I’ll think about it.’
    ‘And don’t take too long about it or someone else will get there before you. Oh, I can hear Graham’s motor car in the yard now. I wonder why he’s so late?’
    Catrin went out to the porch to meet her husband.

    In the quiet days that followed, Catrin heavy with child, she and Tom found a friendship that had always been denied to them as children.
    ‘I was always jealous of you,’ Tom confessed. ‘You were Father’s favourite and I couldn’t put up with that. I knew I was Mother’s favourite but that never meant so much to me. I worshipped Father and could hardly bear it when he left us. It’s only now that I can see him as an ordinary man with the usual human frailties. It’s a strange thing Catrin, but I had to go to France before really appreciating my own family and my own country. I love Wales. Not only her peaceful beauty but all her ordinary, poor people. I mean, Davy Prosser, for instance, who works every day, sometimes until very late at night out of some feeling of loyalty to our family. What have we ever done to deserve such loyalty? We pay him a pittance, the amount a senior farm labourer is always paid, I suppose, and he seems ready to give us his entire life in return. Can you imagine Prosser being spiteful or mean to any one of us? No, he