And there I stood in a breathless lather, much time and strength thrown away together; and the candle burning down for nothing in that little lofty window; and the running water swirling noisily over its stones at my back.
This was the only sound; the wind had died away; the moonlit valley lay as still as the dread old house in its midst but for the splash and gurgle of the beck.

I fancied this grew louder as I paused and listened in my helplessness.

All at once--was it the tongue of Nature telling me the way, or common gumption returning at the eleventh hour?
I ran down to the water's edge, and could have shouted for joy.

Great stones lay in equal profusion on bed and banks.

I lifted one of the heaviest in both hands.