"Then how can he understand you?" said she.
"Because I speak Welsh," said I.
"Then you are a Welshman?" said she.
"No I am not," said I, "I am English."
"So I thought," said she, "and on that account I could not
understand you."
"You mean that you would not," said I. "Now do you choose to bring
what you are bidden?"
"Come, aunt," said John, "don't be silly and cenfigenus, but bring
the breakfast."
The woman stood still for a moment or two, and then biting her lips
went away.
"What made the woman behave in this manner?" said I to my
companion.
"Oh, she was cenfigenus, sir," he replied; "she did not like that
an English gentleman should understand Welsh; she was envious; you
will find a dozen or two like her in Wales; but let us hope not
more."
Presently the woman returned with the bread, cheese and ale, which
she placed on the table.
"Oh," said I, "you have brought what was bidden, though it was
never mentioned to you in English, which shows that your pretending
not to understand was all a sham. What made you behave so?"
"Why I thought," said the woman, "that no Englishman could speak
Welsh, that his tongue was too short."
"Your having thought so," said I, "should not have made you tell a
falsehood, saying that you did not understand, when you knew that
you understood very well.
