Destruction of the King of Cornwall Hotel

The destruction of the King of Cornwall Hotel kills Keith Mulvaney in the lounge room where he sits preparing to smoke his pipe. The scene turns an apparently ordinary pre-bedtime moment into sudden loss, reducing the four-storey stone hotel to smouldering rubble and a remnant façade.

The Explosion

Keith sits in a russet armchair, tamping his pipe, with his head resting against an antimacassar. A runnel of sweat moves down his left temple. He never hears the explosion that destroys the hotel; the account gives no warning or intervening action before the blast and the fire that follows.

Destruction and Consequences

The explosion and fire leave the gracious four-storey stone building as smouldering rubble, charred beams, and a two-sided façade. Keith's presence inside makes the hotel's destruction a personal death as well as the loss of a familiar place. Amy has already crumpled under the knowledge that he is dead, and the devastation confirms the irreversible force of that loss.