fortune favoured us admirably in our plans. mrs. jack, taking only her dressing bag and a few odd parcels, went by the afternoon train from ellon to aberdeen. in hearing of the household she regretted that she had to go alone, as miss marjory was unable to leave her room. about five o’clock i was in the wood as appointed; and in about half an hour marjory joined me in her footman’s livery. i had a flannel coat in my bag which we exchanged for that which she wore and which we hid in the wood. we were thus less noticeable. we reached whinnyfold a little after six, and marjory went into the house and changed her dress which was left ready. she was not long; and we were soon flying on our road to aberdeen. we arrived a little before eight and caught the mail; arriving at carlisle at ten minutes to two o’clock. in the hotel we found mrs. jack anxiously awaiting us.
in the early morning we were ready; and at eight o’clock we all went together to st. hilda’s church, where the clergyman was waiting as had been arranged. all formalities were gone through and marjory and i were made one. she looked oh! so sweet in her plain white frock; and her manner was gentle and solemn. it all seemed to me like a dream of infinite happiness; from which every instant i feared i should wake, and find in its stead some grim reality of pain, or terror, or unutterable commonplace.
[216]
when we went back to breakfast at the hotel, we did not even go through the form of regarding it as in any way a wedding feast. marjory and i had each our part to play, and we determined—i certainly did—to play it well. mrs. jack had been carefully coached by marjory as to how she should behave; and though now and again she looked from one to the other of us wistfully, she did not make any remark.
after a little shopping we got the 12:53 train, arriving at aberdeen at 6:20. mrs. jack was to go on by the 7 train to ellon where the carriage was to meet her. my wife and i got our bicycles and rode to whinnyfold by newburgh and kirkton so as to avoid observation. when she had changed her clothes in our own house, we started for crom. in the wood she changed her coat and left her bicycle.
before we parted she gave me a kiss and a hug that made my blood tingle.
“you have been good” she said “and that is for my husband!” once again she held up that warning finger which i had come to know so well, and slipped away. she then went on alone to the castle, whilst i waited in nervous expectancy of hearing the whistle which she was to blow in case of emergency. then i rode home like a man in a dream.
i left my bicycle at the hotel, and after some supper walked by the sands to whinnyfold, stopping to linger at each spot which was associated with my wife. my wife! it was almost too much to think of; i could hardly realise as yet that it was all real. as i sat on the sand craigs i almost fancied i could see marjory’s figure once again on the lonely rock. it seemed so long ago, for so much had happened since then.
and yet it was but a few days, all told, since we had first met. things had gone in a whirl indeed. there[217] seemed to have been no pause; no room for a pause. and now i was married. marjory was my wife; mine for good or ill, till death did us part. circumstances seemed to have driven us so close together that we seemed not new lovers, not bride and groom, but companions of a lifetime.
and yet.... there was marjory in crom, compassed round by unknown dangers, whilst i, her husband of a few hours, was away in another place, unable even to gaze on her beauty or to hear her voice. why, it was not like a wedding day or a honeymoon at all. other husbands instead of parting with their wives were able to remain with them, free to come and go as they pleased, and to love each other unfettered as they would. why....
i brought myself up sharp. this was grumbling already, and establishing a grievance. i, who had myself proposed the state of things to marjory, to my wife. she was my wife; mine against all the rest of the world. my love was with her, and my duty was to her. my heart and soul were in her keeping, and i trusted her to the full. this was not my wedding day in the ordinary sense of the word at all. this was not my honeymoon. those things would come later, when our joy would be unfettered by circumstances. surely i had reason to rejoice. already marjory had called me her husband, she had kissed me as such; the sweetness of her kiss was still tingling on my lips. if anything but love and trust could come to me from sitting still and sentimentalising and brooding, then the sooner i started in to do some active work the better!...
i rose straightway and went across the headland to my house, unpacked the box of tools which had come from aberdeen, and set about my task of trying to make an opening into the cave.
[218]
i chose for various reasons the cellar as the spot at which to make the first attempt. in the first place it was already dug down to a certain depth, so that the labour would be less; and in the second, my working could be kept more secret. in clearing the foundations of the house the workmen had gone down to the rock nearly all round. just at the end of witsennan point there seemed to be a sort of bowl-like hollow, where the thin skin of earth lay deeper than elsewhere. it was here that the cellar was dug out, and the labour of cutting or blasting the rock saved. with a pick-axe i broke and stripped away a large patch of the concrete in the centre of the cellar, and in a short time had dug and shovelled away the earth and sand which lay between the floor level and the bed rock. i cleared away till the rock was bare some four or five feet square, before i commenced to work on it. i laboured furiously. what i wanted was work, active work which would tire my muscles and keep my thoughts from working into channels of gloom and disintegration.
it took me some time to get into the way of using the tools. it is all very well in theory for a prisoner to get out of a jail or a fortress by the aid of a bit of scrap iron. let any one try it in real life; under the most favourable conditions, and with the best tools available, he will come to the conclusion that romancing is easy work. i had the very latest american devices, including a bit-and-brace which one could lean on and work without stooping, and diamond patent drills which could, compared with ordinary tools of the old pattern, eat their way into rock at an incredible rate. my ground was on the gneiss side of the geological division. had it been on the granite side of the line my labour and its rapidity might have been different.
i worked away hour after hour, and fatigue seemed to[219] come and go. i was not sleepy, and there was a feverish eagerness on me which would not let me rest. when i paused to ease my muscles cramped with work, thought came back to me of how different this night might have been.... and then i set furiously to work again. at last i took no heed of the flying hours; and was only recalled to time by the flickering of my lamp, which was beginning to go out. when i stood up from my task, i was annoyed to see how little i had done. a layer of rock of a few inches deep had been removed; and that was all.
when i went up the steps after locking the cellar door behind me and taking away the key, i saw the grey light of dawn stealing in through the windows. somewhere in the village a cock crew. as i stepped out of the door to return home, the east began to quicken with coming day. my wedding night had passed.
as i went back to cruden across the sands my heart went out in love without alloy to my absent wife; and the first red bolt of dawn over the sea saw only hope upon my face.
when i got to my room i tumbled into bed, tired beyond measure. in an instant i was asleep, dreaming of my wife and all that had been, and all that was to be.
marjory had arranged that she and mrs. jack were for the coming week at least, to come over to cruden every day, and lunch at the hotel; for my wife had set her heart on learning to swim. i was to be her teacher, and i was enthusiastic about the scheme. she was an apt pupil; and she was strong and graceful, and already skilled in several other physical accomplishments, we both found it easy work. the training which she had already had, made a new accomplishment easy. before the week was over she was able to get along so well, that only practice was needed to make her a good[220] swimmer. all this time we met in public as friends, but no more; we were scrupulously careful that no one should notice even an intimacy between us. when we were alone, which was seldom and never for long, we were good comrades as before; and i did not venture to make love in any way. at first it was hard to refrain, for i was wildly in love with my wife; but i controlled myself in accordance with my promise. i soon began to have a dawning feeling that this very obedience was my best means to the end i wished for. marjory grew to have such confidence in me that she could be more demonstrative than before, and i got a larger share of affection than i expected. besides i could see with a joy unspeakable that her love for me was growing day by day; the tentative comradeship—without prejudice—was wearing thin!
all this week, whilst marjory was not near, i worked in the cellar at whinnyfold. as i became more expert with the tools, i made greater progress, and the hole in the rock was becoming of some importance. one day on coming out after a spell of afternoon work, i found gormala seated on a stone against the corner of the house. she looked at me fixedly and said:
“be yon a grave that ye thole?” the question staggered me. i did not know that any one suspected that i was working in the house, or even that i visited it so often as i did. besides, it did not suit my purpose that any one should be aware, under any circumstances, that i was digging a hole. i thought for a moment before answering her:
“what do you mean?”
“eh! but i’m thinkin’ ye ken weel eneuch. i’m no to be deceived i’ the soond. i’ve heard ower mony a time the chip o’ the pick, not to ken it though there be walls atween. i wondered why ye came by yer lanes to this[221] dreary hoose when ye sent yon bonnie lassie back to her hame. aye she is bonnie though her pride be cruel to the aud. ah, weel! the fates are workin’ to their end, whatsoe’er it may be. i maun watch, so that i may be nigh when the end cometh!”
there was no use arguing with her; and besides anything that i could say would only increase her suspicion. suspicion abroad about my present task was the last thing i wished for.
she was round about the headland the next morning, and the next, and the next. during the day i never saw her; but at night she was generally to be found on the cliff above the reivie o’pircappies. i was glad of one thing; she did not seem to suspect that i was working all the time. once i asked her what she was waiting for; she answered without looking at me:
“in the dark will be a struggle in the tide-race, and a shrood floatin’ in the air! when next death an’ the moon an’ the tide be in ane, the seein’ o’ the mystery o’ the sea may be mine!”
it made me cold to hear her. this is what she foretold of marjory; and she was waiting to see her prophecy come to pass.
