They decided that they would check on their Lord a little later, to see if they could help with anything.
The discontented guests soon began to feel uneasy and many of them left the mansion, until there were just a few Prominants left there, finishing off the rest of the food and drink from the tables as if they were beggars at a God-sent feast.
The music began to die down and soon the great ArchBishop also left with Cardinal Levy and the Vicar Tohm, knowing that he didn't have to add his own planned attack on Brook.
Upstairs, Hartford had gently set Mercedes down on the bed and stared at her. Brook, Dearborne and Boy looked on as Hartford continued to weep, in convulsive sobs.
"She is dead! She has taken her own life, but why?" Hartford was asking while Lloyd stood outside the chamber door listening.
Unseen, Lloyd crept into the room and sat in the window behind the curtains.
Hartford continued his lament for Mercedes.
"Why?" he asked. "Did I displease her? Did she not love me any more?
— Oh, God! I cannot understand!?"
Brook put his hand on Hartford's shoulder hoping to console him to some degree.
"Listen to me, Hartford! Her death is not your fault." said Brook. "I am told that her love for you was greater than anything in the whole world. Something else made her … Hartford believed Brook, and so did Lloyd as he watched the moon rise from behind Canon's Butte, silhouetting the Halls Cathedral as if it an ancient mausoleum.