LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 928, 15 June 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE DEVIL'S HOLE.

[from chamber's journal..] ( Continued)

Not a living thing wa3 to be seen ; and the long, scantily furnished apartment of which I was sole tenant, looked very dreary as I turned away from the cheerless prospect. Its gloom was increased rather than otherwise, however, when presently that prospect was shut out and two uncompromising tallow candles were set upon the table. On their appearance 1 drew a volume from my knapsaek, and eliciting a feeble blaze from the smouldering fire, seated myself in front of it and commenced to read. But all endeavours to concentrate my attention upon the book failed ; and at length depressed by the solitude and my melancholy thoughts, I determined upon ringing the bell and begging the landlord to give me his company. I had just risen for the purpose of putting this resolve into execution, when my attention was arrested by the sound of approaching footsteps, and in another instant the door was unclosed and a gentleman entered the room. I say gentleman advisedly, although at a cursory glance there was little about the appearance of the newcomer to indicate his right to the title. He was a small spare man, with large feature?, and a head almost ludicrously out of proportion with his body. His dress, which was black, was of an unfashionable cut and very shabby, and he wore a voluminous white neckcloth. Pausing at a few paces from the door, he gave orders to the waiter for chops and tea. Then advancing towards the fireplace, energetically rubbing his hands together, he addressed me in perfectly good English, but with a .strong Welsh accent, telling mc that ho had arrived at the inn some quarter of an hour ago, drenched through with the rain—having carried his own carpet-hag from a station distant about a mile-and that in consequence, he had been obliged to change all his clothes. ' And by the way,' he continued somewhat abruptly, ' I had the misfortune whilst doing so to drop my purse, and several pieces of money rolled out amongst the furniture of the room. I feel almost sure that I managed to collect all again; but if you would excuse mc doing so in your presence, I should like to satisfy myself completely upon that point. The fact is,' he added with a frank smile, 'that the money in question does not belong to me, and I am the more anxious about it on that account.'

Whilst thus speaking, the little man had drawn from his pocket a huge wash-leather purse, and alter waiting until I had bowed permission, he proceeded to empty its contents upon the table. They consisted of a large roll of banknotes and a considerable sum in gold and silver -aud rs I watched him furtively over the edges of my book, which I had again taken up—l saw him carefully count and arrange the latter into heaps. A sigh of relief accompanied the announcement which he shortly made to me, that he had found the money correct; and he was in the act of opening his purse to replace it, when the landlord—a meagre, sharp-nosed individuel—-entered the room with a tray. Happening to glance at this man as he stood by cloth in hand, I detected a gleam of intense avarice crossing his face ; and although the expression was but momentary—vanishing as the glittering piles were swept into their receptacle—it left me with the impression that the small Welshman's ebchibition of

hia riches in the presence of strangers had not been an altogether judicious proceeding. No suspicion of its imprudence, however, appeared to disturb that gentleman's mind, and I soon forgot all about the little incident i'i the interest; of the conversation which ensued between us.

From his dress and general appearance I had already conjectured my chance com panion to be a Dissenting parson, and his first words as, having finished his tea, he drew a chair to the opposite side of the fireplace, confirmed my surmise. Throwing his eye over my attire, he remarked that he thought Ave were ' both in the same profession,' and inquired if I were not a ' minister of the gospel' And upon my informing him that I was a clergyman of the Church of England, we were soon in the midst of a polemical discussion, which lasted a couple of hour* and covered a large amount of ground; and euded (at least as far as I was concerned) in producing feelings akin to sincere friendship. The insignificant-looking:, ill-formed, shabbily dressed Welsh minister had in terested and attracted me more than any man I had ever met in my life. Endowed with a rich melodious voice, and with won derful conversational powers, he was possessed of an excellent memory and a keen intelligence. His reading, moreover, had been various and deep, as I found when, later on in the evening, the conversation turned upon other than ecclesiastical matters. But it was perhaps even more to Ms imperturbable good-humour, and to the singular innocence and candour which shone in his clear gray eyes and exhibited themselves in every word he uttered, than to his rare natural gifts, that he owed his ability to please. However that might be, I had certainly found the Rev. Pe'er Morgan a most charming companion, and when, just as we were about to separate for the night, I learned that he was going upon the following day to Twellryst, a town I was myself intending to visit, I eagerly proposed that we should make the journey together. The suggestion met with a ready and pleased acquiescence from my new acquaintance, and we then exchanged information as to the different objects which were taking us both to this rather out-of-the-way place. Mine was a very simple one, that of examining the ruins of an ancient monastery in its vicinity. My friend's was a more business-like and, as he laughingly said, a more agreeable errand. It was to receive certain subscriptions which a friend of his, resident in the town, had collected on his behalf. These subscriptions were to be applied to the purpose of enlarging the chapel of wh : ch he was pastor at Pwlwyln, a rapidly growing village on the northern seaboard. The money which I had seen him count, the little man went on to state, was the fruit of his own labours for the same cause. He had obtained it by travelling about the country begging from town to town amongst the members of the denomination to which he belonged, and had beeu engaged in this manner nearly two months. The mission, he concluded, had been crowned with much greater success than he had an ticipated. With the subscriptions he was to receive on the morrow, and those already in his custody, he expected to be able to return home (as he was intending to do on the day afterwards) with upwards of three hundred pounds in his pocket, which, together with another hundred raised by his own very poor congregration, would, he anticipated, be amply sufficient to cover all expenses of the alterations.

(To he continued.}