Cuthbert was gone. The cliff hid him directly. Those few hours had changed the world for me.
My brother was gone, and I had lost my love.
I went back, as he bade me, to Hildred. She had flung herself down on the ground where he left her, and was crying bitterly. I tried to take her hand and lift her up, but she pushed me away, turning from me and burying her face deeper in her hands.
'Hildred, don't cry like that.'
She shook her head impatiently, and rocked herself backwards and forwards like a child. I did not at all know what to do for her.
'I wish I could comfort you, Hildred.'
'You can't,' she said with a gasping sob.
'No I'm afraid nobody could——'
'Cuthbert could,' she interrupted.
It was the first time I had heard from herself that Cuthbert was more to her than I was, although, of course, I knew it before. The words stung me so much that I felt almost inclined to go away and leave her. But presently she took away her hands and looked up, pushing back the ruffled hair from her forehead. It was such a pitiful little face, her eyes wet and her cheeks crimsoned with tears.