The Hills is Lonely (32 page)

With a wry smile he thrust his hand into his tunic pocket and held out the makeshift handcuffs. I recognised it of course. I had discovered a pair of them in a decaying little shop in an insignificant side street it was speckled with rose-buds, bordered with lace and tufted with swansdown—and the bride had been enchanted with it.

The author offers her apologies to all Gaelic speakers for the way in which she has tortured their beautiful language so as to make it pronounceable for stiff-tongued Sassenachs.

The correct Gaelic spelling and their approximate meanings are as follows:

Tha e breagh
(He Breeah)
:It is fine

Tha e fliuch
(He Fluke)
:It is wet

Tha e fuar
(He Fooar)
:It is cold

Ceilidh
(Cayley)
:A meeting together for gossip and song

Mo ghaoil: My dear

Ciamar a Tha
(Kamera-ha)
:How are you?

Tha gu math
(Ha-goo-ma)
:I am well

Strupach
(Strupak)
:A cup of tea and a bite to eat

First published in 1959 by Hutchinson & Co.

This edition published 2012 by Bello an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com/imprints/bello
www.curtisbrown.co.uk

ISBN 978-1-4472-1673-5 EPUB
ISBN 978-1-4472-1673-5 POD

Copyright © Lillian Beckwith, 1959

The right of Lillian Beckwith to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to make restitution at the earliest opportunity.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites').

The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.

This book remains true to the original in every way. Some aspects may appear out-of-date to modern-day readers. Bello makes no apology for this, as to retrospectively change any content would be anachronistic and undermine the authenticity of the original.

Bello has no responsibility for the content of the material in this book. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not constitute an endorsement by, or association with, us of the characterization and content.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Visit
www.panmacmillan.com
to read more about all our books
and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and
news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters

so that you're always first to hear about our new releases.