156 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



Pair bridge in Bettwys, then, finding itself suddenly 

 in good society, pulled itself together and swam 

 tense and flat round a curve to present itself 

 decorously to what I think we are safe in assert- 

 ing to be the river Conway. It was true that 

 half-pay generals and forlorn honeymoon couples 

 haunted the bridge and hung round the post-office, 

 that "well-appointed conveyances" were daily 

 braying forth with horns the multitudinous entry 

 of the tourist, also that the glass was falling ; 

 none the less we should thankfully have turned 

 the Tommies down the hill again and remained 

 without purpose or limit at Bettwys. Then, in- 

 deed, might many periods have been instructively 

 framed around the names of the Miner's Bridge, 

 the Swallow Falls, and Dolwyddelan Castle, all 

 of which the guide-book assured us with chaste 

 esteem were " well worthy of a visit." All that 

 now remained was to turn away from the parapet 

 of the wooded precipice, from \vhose edge we 

 were looking back, and pace lingering forth to- 

 wards Corwen. 



