I was glad to be left alone, though Cuthbert was grave and sad enough, and almost as ready to sit silently thinking as I was. He and my father had never been much to each other. Yet it was the breaking of a long tie, and the losing of the last bit of the old life. Besides, he was unhappy about Hildred.
I suppose a long time passed while I still sat thinking, for the sun came round to the other window, and cast long level rays into the room.
Suddenly a great noise roused me—a loud crash and then a rumbling sound, as if loose stones were falling over one another. Once before I had heard something like it when a part of the Castle wall had fallen. I went out quickly now, towards the part of the ruin that the sound came from.
Hildred met me as I passed under the arch near the keep. She was as pale as death. She clutched my arm and tried to speak. I could barely hear what she said, for some horror seemed to be choking her, and she gasped for breath. She pulled me back in the direction from which she came.
'I have killed him. Come!'
'Hildred what is it? Where is Cuthbert?'
She pointed across the ruins. Still in the same hoarse whisper she said, 'The tower fell in; I took him there.'
It was true; part of the tower had fallen. It was the oldest bit of the ruin, and the walls were mouldering away. I had often warned Hildred that it was unsafe. Now I saw a great heap of massive fallen stones and masonry, and a huge gap in the wall. A bit of the winding stone stair was down. Far above our heads the broken steps began again. Merciful Heaven! was Cuthbert buried under all that?
'Can he be alive?' Hildred gasped, and ended with a long wild scream, as she saw the horror in my face.
'Hush, Hildred, I must get the tools; call Matt; send the boys for help.'