Others lamented sorely the death of the learned Rhiwallon on the battlefield, believing that in his hands lay the secret of the removal of the curse, he, as descendant of one of the renowned physicians of Glyn Melen, having succeeded to all the wisdom and secret knowledge vouchsafed to them by their mystic mother, the Maiden of the Pool. Had a few more years of life been granted him, said some, the curse would verily have been removed during the earl's lifetime, and another proof been given of the supernatural lore of the Brethren, which some were bold enough to deny in these modern times. But the physician had been taken away at the very critical moment--just when his master verged upon the age of fifty years--and anxiety and excitement waxed stronger and stronger in the village as that birthday, which none of his forefathers had for generations lived to see, drew actually near. There was much recalling to mind among the village folk of the wild rhymes of the ancient gipsy, in which she had foretold that the day would come when the curse should be removed from the castle, but that with its removal the last heir should perish and the walls crumble to dust, which prophecy, said they, but betrayed the extreme malignancy of her spirit, since that were verily no true removal at all. And since the Fair Maid of Gwynnon, renouncing all earthly bliss, had vowed to be herself its last heir, the simple folk, who worshipped her very shadow as it fell across their path, prayed daily that the dark sayings of the wild woman might have no power to hurt her, but that she might long be spared to dwell among them, to free her noble father's memory from all past shame by the influence of her own sweet and pure life.