Will I go and meet them? Oh! mother, I long to comfort 'n'wncwl Ebben."

"No, child, leave him alone to-night; he has better help than thou
canst give him. To-night he will feel God's presence as he has never
felt it before, and what else will he want, Morva? Come and read our
chapter, 'merch i."

And while they read by the light of their tiny candle, and the furze
crackled and sparkled up the open chimney, a bronzed and stalwart man
was tramping down the stony road towards the chapel. Looking down the
narrow valley, he saw the broad grey sea, its ripples tipped with the
crimson of the setting sun. To the left towered the high cliffs which
closed in the valley, and on the right stretched away the furze-covered
slopes leading to Garthowen and the moor, and the rough sailor heart
throbbed with the happiness of home-coming and the re-awakening of long
deferred hopes. His brown face lighted up with pleasure, as he waved
his hand towards the sunlit side of the scene, but he turned his face
and his footsteps into the grey shadowed court-yard of the chapel. It
was Gethin! He had sailed into Caer-Madoc harbour in the afternoon,
the ships being the only things considered free to come and go during
the Sabbath hours. He had met an Abersethin man in the town, who had
promised to bring his luggage home in his cart next day, and had
supplemented the promise by the information that on this particular
evening, Ebben Owens would be turned out from the Penmorien Sciet.

"Jâr-i! it's time for me to start, then," said Gethin; "will I be there
in time, d'ye think?"

"Yes, if you walk sharp; but what will you do? You can't stop them
turning him out! There's a pity!"