Then I saw her give a start as she read it. I
walked towards her, and soon reached the landslip. Evidently what she
read agitated her much. She seemed to read it and re-read it. When
she saw me she put it behind her back, trying to conceal it from me.
'What have you picked up, Winifred?' I said, in much alarm; for my
heart told me that it was in some way connected with her father and
the shriek.
'Oh, Henry!' said she, 'I was in hopes you had not seen it. I am so
grieved for you. This parchment contains a curse written in large
letters. Some sacrilegious wretch has broken into the church and
stolen a cross placed in your father's tomb.'
God!--It was the very same parchment scroll from my father's tomb on
which was written the curse! I was struck dumb with astonishment and
dismay. The whole terrible truth of the situation broke in upon me at
one flash. The mysterious shriek was explained now. Wynne had
evidently broken open the tomb as soon as his daughter was out of the
way. He had then, in order to reach the cottage without running the
risk of being seen by a chance passenger on the Wilderness Road,
blundered about the edge of the cliff at the very moment when it was
giving way, and had fallen with it.
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