They threw their arms around each other and trembled at their own success , for as the legends of this wondrous gem rushed thick upon their memory they felt themselves marked out by fate , and the consciousness was fearful . Often from childhood upward they had seen it shining like a distant star , and now that star was throwing its intensest lustre on their hearts . They seemed changed to one another 's eyes in the red brilliancy that flamed upon their cheeks , while it lent the same fire to the lake , the rocks and sky , and to the mists which had rolled back before its power . But with their next glance they beheld an object that drew their attention even from the mighty stone . At the base of the cliff , directly beneath the Great Carbuncle , appeared the figure of a man with his arms extended in the act of climbing and his face turned upward as if to drink the full gush of splendor . But he stirred not , no more than if changed to marble . `` It is the Seeker , '' whispered Hannah , convulsively grasping her husband 's arm . `` Matthew , he is dead . '' `` The joy of success has killed him , '' replied Matthew , trembling violently . `` Or perhaps the very light of the Great Carbuncle was death . '' '' ` The Great Carbuncle ' ! '' cried a peevish voice behind them . `` The great humbug ! If you have found it , prithee point it out to me . '' They turned their heads , and there was the cynic with his prodigious spectacles set carefully on his nose , staring now at the lake , now at the rocks , now at the distant masses of vapor , now right at the Great Carbuncle itself , yet seemingly as unconscious of its light as if all the scattered clouds were condensed about his person . Though its radiance actually threw the shadow of the unbeliever at his own feet as he turned his back upon the glorious jewel , he would not be convinced that there was the least glimmer there . `` Where is your great humbug ? '' he repeated . `` I challenge you to make me see it . '' `` There ! ''
said XXXXX , incensed at such perverse blindness , and turning the cynic round toward the illuminated cliff .
Carbuncle Hannah Matthew brilliancy fire humbug intensest prithee right unbeliever