spoken in the language of the Toltecs or the lost Zamzummin. To
describe it would of course be impossible. The novelty of her accent,
the way in which she gave the 'h' in 'which,' 'what,' and 'when,' the
Welsh rhythm of her intonation, were as bewitching to me as the
_timbre_ of her voice. And let me say here, once for all, that when I
sat down to write this narrative, I determined to give the English
reader some idea of the way in which, whenever her emotions were
deeply touched, her talk would run into soft Welsh diminutives; but I
soon abandoned the attempt in despair. I found that to use colloquial
Welsh with effect in an English context is impossible without
wearying English readers and disappointing Welsh ones.

Here, indeed, is one of the great disadvantages under which this book
will go out to the world. While a story-teller may reproduce, by
means of orthographical devices, something of the effect of Scottish
accent, Irish accent, or Manx accent, such devices are powerless to
represent Welsh accent.

I got up in silence, and walked by her side out of the churchyard
towards her father's cottage, which was situated between the new
church and the old, and at a considerable distance from the town of
Raxton on one side, and the village of Graylingham on the other. Her
eager young limbs would every moment take her ahead of me, for she
was as vigorous as a fawn. But by the time she was half a yard in
advance, she would recollect herself and fall back; and every time
she did so that same look of tenderness would overspread her face.

At last she said, 'What makes you stare at me so, little boy?'

I blushed and turned my head another way, for I had been feasting my